When editor Holle Singer first heard the pitch for the documentary “Sugar Babies,” which follows a TikTok influencer who creates an online sugar baby operation, she joked that she…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
When editor Holle Singer first heard the pitch for the documentary “Sugar Babies,” which follows a TikTok influencer who creates an online sugar baby operation, she joked that she found herself wondering how virtual sugar babies work. The end result is a documentary premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — one that evolved, in Singer’s words, into a film “looking at people in poverty in America who are just trying to figure out where they belong.”
Singer joined Stephania Dulowski, editor of the feature film “Bunnylovr,” for a conversation as part of Editors on Editors presented by Adobe panel. The two craftswomen placed a high importance on the collaborative process with their directors and the trust needed between them in the edit room.
Dulowski described how “editing is all about communication and you need the director to be able to communicate their vision and whether something’s working or not to you. And then you also need to do it back to them.”
Singer actually grew up in the same neighborhood as director Rachel Fleit. So when they decided to work together on “Sugar Babies,” they relied on their proximity to each other.
“Instead of going to the city or to the office, we were like, ‘Let’s just work in our apartment,’” Singer recalled with a laugh. “I had the most janky setup with one monitor. And that’s how we worked. She sprawled on the couch, she’d bring her laptop. And I think that relaxed environment helped make sometimes difficult conversations easier. It wasn’t like we were in this formal place.”
Both films are bound together by female protagonists searching for their place in the world and an exploration of internet culture, as “Bunnylovr” tells the story of a lonely cam girl undergoing an anxious relationship with a new client. Dulowski found that working with Katarina Zhu, the director and lead actor, required another layer of trust.
“She’s a triple threat, which is amazing,” Dulowski said. “I was really excited because I feel like in editing and filmmaking, I’m always trying to learn from different disciplines. And I was so excited that Katarina was the actress because I was going to learn about performance more … It all feeds into the art of filmmaking.”
Singer ended up using extensive online footage from the TikTok influencer’s account for “Sugar Babies.” Both Singer and Dulowski connected over having to think of exciting ways to showcase texting and social media in their films. With the many Oscar nominations for “Anora” in mind, Singer recalled director Sean Baker’s trajectory in digital filmmaking.
“Everybody has a voice, you know?” Singer explained. “I love films like ‘Tangerine’ where they just grabbed an iPhone and made a feature, even ‘Creep,’ I like horror films, it’s a brilliant film. It’s a great story with two actors and they had one camera and they made this thing that’s a terrifying movie. So I think in that way, it’s very democratic now.”
