Our editors are masters of the "final rewrite," dedicated to helping students find the heart of their films. They bring a wealth of industry experience and a shared passion for guiding young creators through the technical and emotional journey of bringing a story to life.
Our Editors
Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones is an Emmy®-nominated documentary filmmaker and editor whose work centers on community, representation, and cultural storytelling. She has edited films featured on PBS, Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, and her work has appeared in outlets including The New York Times, BBC, and KQED. Her directorial projects have been supported by the Smithsonian Institution, Working Films, and the Berkeley Film Foundation.
Leslie Simmer
Leslie Simmer is a documentary editor specializing in character-driven features and series. Her extensive credits include the Netflix series My Love (Ep 1, IDA Best Episodic Series) and Principals of Pleasure (Ep 3), Emmy Award-winning The Homestretch, and the Starz series America to Me. She worked at Kartemquin Films for over 25 years, and has also been an educator, a consultant, and has appeared on various panels. She loves travel, food, reading, and her cat(s).
Matt Taylor
Matt Taylor is a Chicago-based documentary editor and Staff Editor at Kartemquin Films. Now in his second year with Future Filmmakers, he enjoys helping students navigate post-production to discover the story their film is trying to tell. His credits include the Netflix docuseries My Love, the award-winning Holding Liat, and ESPN’s "30 for 30" The Luckiest Guy in the World. A SCAD graduate, Matt moved to Chicago after college to follow a girl—and eventually convinced her to marry him. Outside the edit suite, he mostly hangs out with his cats and tries to ignore the fortunes of his favorite soccer team, Tottenham Hotspur.
Joy E. Reed
Joy E. Reed is an award-winning editor and animator with over a decade of experience in documentary filmmaking. A Karen Schmeer Editing Fellow, their credits include the Emmy®-winning Ernie & Joe, the HBO feature 32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide, and How to Dance in Ohio. Joy’s work, broadcast on PBS and HBO, is rooted in the belief that community-led narratives create the most authentic and ethical portrayals of the human experience.
Kristina Motwani
Kristina Motwani (she/her) is a documentary editor and writer based in San Francisco. She received the first inaugural Sundance Jonathan Oppenhiem Editing Award, Karen Schmeer Excellence in Editing Award and Sundance/Adobe Editor Mentorship Award. Known for her emotionally precise vérité style, she crafts intimate, character-driven films like Homeroom, Midnight Traveler, and Adam’s Apple. Kristina’s work has screened at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and distributed by Netflix, Hulu, and PBS. Her films have been honored with Peabody and Emmy awards. She is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, ADE, and A-Doc.
Pam Martinez
Pamela Martinez (she/her/ella) is a Venezuelan filmmaker and educator interested in systems of care, migration, and transitional justice. She has an MFA in Documentary Film from Stanford University and a BA in Sociology and Public Policy from NYU Abu Dhabi. Her latest film is Presente en los Grandes Eventos (2026). Her films have screened in India, the UAE, Colombia, Venezuela, México, the Netherlands, Germany, and the USA. She is currently an Artist Programs Consultant at Firelight Media and is developing her first non-fiction feature film.
Darian Woehr
Darian Woehr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer based in San Francisco, California. She is drawn to stories at the nexus of memory, environments and defining home that occur at pivotal moments in history but are often missing from the headlines. Darian is a founder of The Home Collective, a long term documentary project exploring the concept of home and its definitive role in shaping our future.
Brian Gersten
Brian Gersten is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, non-fiction writer, editor, and educator based in NY's Hudson Valley. Much of Brian's work can be seen on the likes of Netflix, PBS, Amazon Prime, Peacock, HBO Max, and Criterion Channel. His films have been written about and featured in the NYT, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The AV Club, and CBS Sunday Morning. Most recently, Brian edited the feature documentary "Why We Dream" which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2025 and will be broadcast on CNN later this year. Brian also directed, produced, and edited the short documentary, "Hollywood's Mermaid", which is currently screening at film festivals around the country.