Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/832212
79 Q2 2017 / CINEMONTAGE and a zookeeper: "My job was to transcribe their audio interviews for the editor; in exchange, she taught me how to use the Steenbeck." A Steenbeck was a film editing system that quietly ran picture and tracks from horizontal spools on the left to horizontal spools on the right of a picture playhead. It was considered an elegant forerunner of the digital systems in use today. Benson remembered editor Madeline Anderson, an African- American pioneer who worked for the New York PBS affiliate WNET. "By seeing her, I believed I could do the same thing," she recalled. "The people you mentor don't have to look like you; all that is necessary is that they resonate with your spirit…" She added, "In a world that encourages division, in an industry that does not always reward kindness, I remind you that we always have a choice. And I choose to be kind." Benson is also an educator. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, and has been a guest lecturer at New York University, Stanford University, the American Film Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, Xavier University, Converse College, Tufts University, The School of Visual Arts (in New York City), City College of New York and the Brooklyn Museum. Benson was the first African-American female member of the American Cinema Editors (ACE), an honorary organization for film and television editors. She mentors young editors and is co-chair of ACE's Diversity Mentoring Committee. She is also a member of the Editors Guild's Diversity Committee. Some 135 friends and admirers attended the banquet and congratulated Lillian Benson. f Lillian Benson, center, with Fellowship and Service Committee members, from left, Alyson Dee Moore, Rachel Igel, Jeff Burman, Diane Adler, Glenn Morgan and committee chair Sharon Smith Holley. Lillian Benson, right, with Tina Hirsch. Lillian Benson flanked by Alan Heim and Cathy Repola. Lillian Benson, left, with previous Fellowship and Service Award recipient (2010) Carol Littleton.