Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081203
29 Q1 2019 / CINEMONTAGE PHYLLIS HOUSEN Editor of Clemency A side from an apparent love of the cinema, Phyllis Housen has an infectious enthusiasm for editing and an ebullient personality. "We're all super excited," she says about Clemency's selection for the Sundance's dramatic competition. "I've been there a couple of times as a friend or assistant, but this is the first time as the editor of a film in competition." Housen grew up in a small town in Massachusetts where her grandfather started a paper mill. Working in the family business, however, was not in the cards. Instead, she developed a love for cinema, thanks to frequent trips alongside her father to the local theatre, where she was exposed to the great movies in the American filmmaking canon. In high school, Housen had a teacher who taught a film history class, which had a marked influence on her. Almost immediately, she knew what she wanted to do with her life and eventually enrolled in Tufts University to study film theory and English literature. Initially she intended to write about film. "I wanted to be Pauline Kael," she recalls. For her fourth year, she spent a year "abroad" — not overseas but in Hollywood, writing a paper comparing the editing styles of Federico Fellini and Bob Fosse for her thesis. Smitten with editing, she subsequently attended the London International Film School, where she earned her MFA. After London, she moved to another great European city, Paris. However, it wasn't easy for an American artist to break into the French cinema establishment. "The unions are very tough in Europe," Housen says. Instead, she worked with young American filmmakers, colleagues and friends who came to Paris, where she would edit their projects. As poetic and artistic as being an American in Paris may seem, however, after several years of living in France Housen realized it was time to get serious about her work, which meant relocating to California. The longer she waited, she realized, the harder it would be to start climbing the requisite rungs of assistance-ship. So she booked a one-way ticket to LA. Her first gig was on Guillermo del Toro's first feature, Cronos (1993), an unusual film about an object that had the power to grant everlasting life. Soon afterward, she joined the Editors Guild. When asked who her mentors were at this time, she replies, "The late Sally Menke was a mentor to many of us. There was a group of young women whom she taught how to edit." Clemency. Photo by Eric Branco. Courtesy of Sundance Institute Photo courtesy Phyllis Housen