Flatbed KEM editor; Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, gift of Alex Halpern, Smoking Cat, and Mike Zoss Productions; Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Thelma Schoonmaker, Stories of Cinema 2, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Photo by Joshua White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
About the Exhibition
Spanning more than 50 years, the editing career of Thelma Schoonmaker (b. 1940) is remarkable and unparalleled. Schoonmaker is the longtime collaborator of director Martin Scorsese and has edited all of his films since Raging Bull (USA, 1980). Together they are known for sequencing and pacing techniques—from freeze-frames to slow motion—that reflect a profound understanding of the medium and its history. Schoonmaker was first nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing for her contribution to the feature-length documentary Woodstock (USA, 1970); she has since won the award three times, for Scorsese’s Raging Bull, The Aviator (USA, 2004), and The Departed (USA, 2006).
Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Thelma Schoonmaker was anchored by a KEM flatbed editor of the type used by Schoonmaker through much of her career. In an arresting montage, the gallery examined a number of the editor’s key innovations, from Woodstock’s split frame to the Raging Bull quick cut. The gallery also paid homage to the fact that editing served as an entry point for women during the early years of the film industry.
The first iteration of the Significant Movies and Moviemakers gallery featured a six-gallery experience showcasing Citizen Kane (USA, 1941), Bruce Lee, Oscar Micheaux, Thelma Schoonmaker, Emmanuel Lubezki, and Real Women Have Curves (USA, 2002).
