Hailing from South Africa, Debbie Berman is a new addition to the Film Editors Branch with numerous action and fantasy films under her belt. A recipient of the Sally Menke Editing Fellowship from the Sundance Institute in 2012, she has collaborated with other seasoned editors as well as going solo on several notable films including …
This smart and surprisingly heartfelt horror comedy upends the traditional slasher film into a meta experience with several teens trapped inside an ’80s cult movie that turns into a cathartic experience for the daughter of its deceased lead actress. Debbie deftly keeps the tonal balance just right between suspense, hilarity and genuine pathos.
The most recent Spider-Man reboot thanks to a deal between Marvel and Sony gave us this first solo outing for Tom Holland as the web-slinging teenage superhero. Again the tone is everything here as the editing (in collaboration with Dan Lebental) juggles high school humor, high-flying action and some of the biggest plot twists in the modern Marvel canon.
The world of Wakanda came to vivid life in Ryan Coogler’s Oscar-winning adventure, which also earned the first superhero nomination for Best Picture. As with the other crafts on display in the film, her work here with Michael P. Shawver set a high bar for future superhero epics.
Marvel’s first solo vehicle for a big-screen female superhero stars Brie Larson as the title character, who has to fight her own unreliable memory and a series of imposing foes in the 1990s. Editing this film with Elliot Graham posed an unusual challenge with the opening half hour flinging the viewer into a borderline avant-garde storm of fractured memories and motives that only begin to make sense later as the film’s storyline becomes clear.
An endearing Oscar-nominated surprise last year, this humorous and thrilling saga takes place in a postapocalyptic world where timid Dylan O’Brien has to traverse a deadly landscape filled with mutated, gigantic insects and sea life in order to reach his true love. Debbie and fellow editor Nancy Richardson help turn this odyssey into a breathless blend of thrills and emotion with charm to spare.