Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081203
30 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2019 Housen's first feature as the principal editor was a film called Renaissance (1994), starring Richard Hatch. Another feature, Dream for an Insomniac (1996) with Jennifer Aniston, soon followed when she was hired to do a recut. But it was the romantic comedy Adam and Steve (2005) that was the first film she edited to "really get play." The writer/director Craig Chester was a friend of hers. "Back then, that's how it happened," she comments. "You had a bunch of friends and they would say, 'Let's put on a show.'" Other films followed, including the Japanese film Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (2010), as well as documentaries like Evolution of a Criminal (2014), about a 15-year-old bank robber, and Monster in the Mind (2016), a film about Alzheimer's and dementia. But after 20 years in LA, Housen decided to move to New York City to be near friends and family. However, like many who work in show business, she leads a bi- coastal life. "My feet are in New York, but my head is in LA," she says. She got the call for Clemency through her agent and, after promising meetings with producer Bronwyn Cornelius and director Chinonye Chukwu, she was hired as the editor. According to Housen, the crew knew that Clemency was an important film while they were working on it because it discusses the death penalty and the way that law personally affects the prison warden, whose character is played by Alfre Woodard. Largely about the internal struggle of that character, the film also deals with the ethics surrounding lethal injection. Clemency was cut on Adobe Premiere. "I love Premiere, but I came up learning on Avid," says Housen. "The vertical integration of the suite in Premiere is incredible. Whether it's titling or visual effects, it's really seamless." Upon learning that Clemency had won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Housen tells CineMontage, "It was such a fantastic surprise! I received a text around midnight on Saturday from an editor friend in London who had seen the press release and sent it to me. We had seen a little tweeting here and there during the week about Alfre Woodard's performance, but I had no idea we would win the prize. Such a huge honor and so deserved by our writer/ director and the team. For me, it's a dream come true: to edit a Sundance-winning independent film." WALDEMAR CENTENO Editor of Big Time Adolescence W aldemar Centeno, the editor of Big Time Adolescence, exudes a palpable sense of pride in his Puerto Rican heritage, even though he grew up around the Washington, DC area. His father moved the family from the US territory to the mainland to pursue a PhD at Michigan State University and then went to work for the government in Washington. Centeno frequently travels back to Puerto Rico, however, having recently returned from a visit over the holidays He attended the University of Michigan, choosing a double major in film studies and English. Big Time Adolescence. American High/LD Entertainment Waldemar Centeno. Photo by Martin Cohen