An interview with BAFTA Award winning editor Amber Saunders
It’s been a ‘surreal’ few days for Amber Saunders, editor of the BAFTA Award winning short film ‘The Black Cop’, since the incredible short film won the award last Sunday (March 13th, 2022). I think I speak for everyone who knows her and has followed her career, we are SO PROUD!
Directed by Cherish Oteka, The Black Cop is an intimate portrait of Gamal 'G' Turawa, an ex-Metropolitan police officer, explores his memories of racially profiling and harassing black people and homophobia in his early career. Now an openly gay man, Turawa’s story is a multi-layered one and sits in the centre of three pivotal moments in recent British history, from the black communities’ resistance of oppressive policing, to the push for LGBTQIA equality and the aftermath of the west African 'farming' phenomenon, where white families took care of black children outside the remit of local authorities. The film is embedded at the bottom of this article and is a must watch.
I was able to interview Amber about the win and she shared some brilliant insight into her editing process. Enjoy!
First of all… CONGRATULATIONS AMBER! You have always been such a key part of the Edit Girls community and it’s the absolute best thing to see your career go from strength to strength. Thanks for answering some questions about BAFTA winning short doc ‘The Black Cop’.
How does it feel to be a BAFTA award winning editor??
BAFTA award-winning editor?! SURREAL!!! It’s still very hard to believe it’s actually happened, I must say. But it’s a great achievement and I’m very grateful for it.
What was it like working with Director Cherish?
Working with Cherish was a great experience, Cherish is a very hard worker and I learnt a lot from them. As soon as I saw the outline for this film and spoke with Cherish, I knew it was something I had to work on. It was such a powerful and very unique topic and I wanted to know more about this story. It’s something I’d never seen or heard anyone openly share either. The main objective for Cherish was to stay true to G’s story throughout the editing process and Cherish was very grounded from the start and really focussed that.
The film uses a lot of dramatisation footage, how in the edit did you ensure it felt natural and authentic throughout?
The fact that Cherish wanted to use dramatisation in this documentary also drew me to it. I think it’s a great tool to help immerse the audience in these scenarios. There are some very triggering parts of G’s story that were dramatised and I think it just really helps draw the audience closer to understanding/feeling what he went through.
Before shooting the dramatised scenarios, we had a pretty tight edit in place which consisted of just G’s interview footage and archive footage. In G’s interview footage, he did a lot of hand gestures to camera to help demonstrate while telling his story - I thought they could shoot very similar hand gestures in the dramatised footage to match actions and make it pretty seamless when inter-cutting between interview and reconstruction. It worked really well.
The film looks at sensitive issues such as racism and homophobia how did you navigate this both personally (if you’re happy to share) and in the storytelling process?
Navigating the sensitive issues such as racism and homophobia wasn’t easy. I remember watching through all of G’s interview footage one night and having so many mixed emotions. Mainly, how raw/open he was about the things he had done and went through in his life. I ended up really sympathising with G and relating to parts of his story. It’s a huge exploration of self-identity, so naturally you end up reflecting. His story really takes you on a journey. I did think to myself a few times “wow, how are people going to react to this” But ultimately, the importance of staying true to this story and making sure the audience leave with a feeling of hope was what mattered.
Can you share any special moments you experienced in the edit?
I would say a special moment I experienced during the edit was the impact his story had on me and where it led me to reflect, it shows how pivotal it is to stay true to yourself. Getting G’s feedback was special too as we had done his story justice.
What’s next for you, any exciting projects on the horizon you can share?
There are a few interesting projects that are looming and obviously I can't talk about any of them haha. But I’m very excited for what’s to come. Winning a BAFTA for something meaningful like this means a lot to me. And to be able to share this with a fantastic team is everything and more.
You can read Amber’s career story here.