Jason Rosenfield

Jason Rosenfield (born 1945, New York City) is an American film editor, writer, director, producer and educator known mostly for his work in story-driven feature-length documentaries. Elected to membership in American Cinema Editors., an honorary society of distinguished editors, he has earned multiple Emmy Awards for his work and contributed to numerous additional awards, including an Emmy Award and three nominations, an Academy Award nomination, a Peabody and R.F. Kennedy Award.

Early life

Raised in New Rochelle, N.Y. and introduced to painting, jazz and musical theater as a child, Rosenfield was inspired to pursue a career in the arts. He attended the University of Pennsylvania until his father's death forced him to leave to help support his family. Eventually moving into New York's Greenwich Village and its dynamic mix of dancers, performance artists and filmmakers, he focused on dance before injuries and a fortuitous part-time job introduced him to film editing, which he saw as a natural extension of dance and choreography. While experimenting with cinematic form on his own, Rosenfield took freelance jobs assisting senior editors in television commercials and nonfiction programming, finally joining the Motion Picture Editors Guild in 1979 and pursuing a full-time career.

Career

Rosenfield earned his first major feature credit with Robert Altman's Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and first documentary credit with Perry Miller Adato's DGA Award-winning Eugene O’Neill: A Glory of Ghosts before moving to Los Angeles in 1989. Arnold Shapiro's The American Dream Contest and Arthur Barron's Rita Hayworth: Dancing Into the Dream was followed in 1992 by his debut as a director, writer, and producer of a theatrical short for the World Wildlife Fund, The Kingdom, which earned him a Cine Golden Eagle Award and Cindy Writing Award. He followed this as editor, writer and co-producer of Discovery Channel's To Be With Sharks, then wrote, directed and produced On Nature's Trail, an award-winning series of three short fictional children's films for National Geographic.

Between 1994 and 1997, Rosenfield edited a number of films for Half-Court Pictures’ Bill Guttentag and Vince DiPersio, including the Oscar-nominated Blues Highway and Emmy Award-winning HBO films Memphis PD and Teen Killers, before joining R. J. Cutler's Emmy Award-winning series American High for Fox and PBS. Rosenfield continued his work in television series with Bunim-Murray's 10th season of The Real World, followed by Bill Guttentag and Dick Wolf's Law & Order: Crime & Punishment, which ran for two seasons on NBC.

As Rosenfield's acclamation in the industry rose, his influence expanded beyond the editing room. Beginning in 2006, Rosenfield served three terms on the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Board of Governors, He spent almost two decades on the Academy's Picture Editors and Documentary Peer Groups Executive Committees.

Rosenfield's credits expanded further over the next decade with many award-winning documentaries. In 2004, he co-edited Black Sky: Burt Rutan's Race for Space, which won a Peabody Award. In 2007 and 2010, respectively, he edited Vince DiPersio's Semper Fi and the Emmy-nominated The Kennedy Detail. Between 2012 and 2014 Rosenfield collaborated with Joshua Rofé and three-time Oscar winner Mark Jonathan Harris on Rofe's feature-length documentaries Lost for Life and Swift Current, followed in 2016 by Harris’ Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine. In 2018 he joined Rofe and Oscar winner Jordan Peele's four-part Amazon series Lorena as supervising editor. Lorena received an IDA Award nomination and premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Other honored documentaries credits include Living Undocumented and The Seventies.

Rosenfield's experience in the editing room proved to be a catalyst for the mentorship and influence he would provide as a story and editorial consultant. Brett Fallentine's award-winning story of Compton's African-American cowboys, Fire on the Hill, initiated Rosenfield's consulting career in 2017 (he eventually received a full editing credit). That same year, Rosenfield consulted and served as supervising editor on Apo Bazidi's award-winning Resistance is Life, the story of an eight-year old Kurdish refugee fleeing ISIS. In 2018, his consulting credits included Do No Harm, Emmy winner Robyn Symon's investigative look into physician burnout, and Amelia Rose Blaire's award-winning narrative short Desert Prayer (for which he also received an editing credit). In 2019 he consulted on Ian Cheney's Picture a Scientist, which was selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, Apo Bazidi's How Far is Home, a story of Syrian refugees in America's heartland that premiered at the 2020 Cleveland International Film Festival, and Academy Award winner Mitchell Block's Sara, still in post-production.

In 2016, Rosenfield joined the faculty at USC's prestigious School of Cinematic Arts, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students through both fiction and documentary productions.

In 2018, Rosenfield received his MFA in Film from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, delivering as his thesis project a manuscript for his memoir "Chasing the Monster: Confessions of a Film Editor," chronicling his career and life at the crossroads between art and artist.

Filmography

Editor: Feature Documentaries Year Title Director Notes 2019 Sara Mitchell Block Consulting Editor; In Post-Production 2019 Picture a Scientist Ian Cheney Consulting Editor; In Post-Production 2018 Kupenda Philip Knowlton 2018 Do No Harm Robyn Symon Consulting Editor 2017-2018 Fire on The Hill Brett Fallentine 2017 Resistance is Life Apo Bazidi Supervising Editor 2016 Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine Mark Jonathan Harris Theatrical release 2018 2014 Swift Current Joshua Rofé 2013 Spirit of the Marathon 2 Jon Dunham 2012 Lost for Life Joshua Rofé 2010 The Kennedy Detail Vince DiPersio Nominated for an Emmy Award 2009 Worse Than War Michael DeWitt 2009 HouseQuake Karen Elizabeth Price 2007 Semper Fi Vince DiPersio 2006 Secrets of the Code Jonathan Stack 2004 Black Sky: The Race for Space Sandy Guthrie, Scott B Received a Peabody Award 2003 Top Speed Greg MacGillivray Imax Feature 1998 Teen Killers: A Second Chance Bill Guttentag & Vince DiPersio 1998 Kids Who Kill Jason Rosenfield Director/Editor 1996 Memphis PD: War on the Streets Bill Guttentag & Vince DiPersio Received a R.F. Kennedy Award; Nominated for a CableACE Award 1994 Blues Highway Bill Guttentag & Vince DiPersio Nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar); Received a W.C. Handy Award; Nominated for the Chicago Intl. Film Festival Grand Prize: Gold Hugo Award 1989 A White Garment of Churches Perry Miller Adato 1986 Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts Perry Miller Adato Received a DGA Award

Editor: Television Series

Documentary Year Title Producer Notes 2019 Living Undocumented Aaron Saidman 2018 Lorena Steven Berger, Jordan Peele, Amazon Supervising Editor; Director: Joshua Rofé; 4-part limited series 2015 The Seventies: War of the Sexes Mark Herzog, CNN Nominated for an Emmy Award; Nominated for an IDA Award 2001-2004 Law & Order: Crime & Punishment Bill Guttentag, Dick Wolf, NBC 1999-2000 American High RJ Cutler, Fox/PBS Received an Emmy Award 2001 The Real World Jonathan Murray & Mary-Ellis Bunim, MTV 2001 Making the Band Jonathan Murray & Mary-Ellis Bunim, MTV 2001 Road Rules Jonathan Murray & Mary-Ellis Bunim, MTV 2001 Challenge Jonathan Murray & Mary-Ellis Bunim, MTV

Reality Year Title Producer 2012 Face Off Dwight Smith et al., Syfy 2012 Million Dollar Closets Rich Bye, HGTV 2010 Drama! Pilot Vince DiPersio, BET

Comedy Year Title Director/Producer Notes 2009 The Breakup Guy Aaron Hilliard/CBS Pilot 2008 Trendsetters Aaron Hilliard/ABC Pilot 2006 Free Ride Rob Roy Thomas, Fox TV Lead Editor

Editor: Narrative Films Year Title Director 2018 Desert Prayer Courtney Thérond 2016 Echo Park Blues (Consulting Editor) Michael Bofshever 2008 Learning to Fly Gay Thomas 1982 Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Robert Altman

Director Year Title Producer Notes 2000-2001 American High (Shared Credit) RJ Cutler, Fox/PBS TV documentary Series 1998 Kids Who Kill John Lindsay, Oregon Public Broadcasting TV documentary 1995 On Nature's Trail (Producer/Writer/Director) Jason, Rosenfield, National Geographic Society Three-part fictional children's series 1992 The Kingdom (co-producer) Michael Rosenberg, Brion Black, World Wildlife Fund

Writer Year Title Producer Notes 1995 On Nature's Trail (Producer/Writer/Director) Jason Rosenfield, National Geographic Society Three-part fictional children's series 1994 To Be With Sharks: View From the Cage Marty Snyderman, Discovery Channel 1992 The Kingdom (co-producer) Michael Rosenberg, Brion Black, World Wildlife Fund

Producer Year Title Notes 2012 Million Dollar Closets Reality TV Series, HGTV 2011 Project Accessory Reality Competition TV Series, Lifetime 2011 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Reality TV Series, Animal Planet 2009 Elk Avenue TV Pilot Presentation 1998 Teen Killers: A Second Chance? TV documentary, HBO 1995 On Nature's Trail (Producer/Writer/Director) Three-part fictional children's series, National Geographic Society 1994 To Be with Sharks: View From the Cage (co-producer) Producer: Marty Snyderman, Discovery Channel 1992 The Kingdom (co-producer) Theatrical short, Producer: Michael Rosenberg, Brion Black, World Wildlife Fund

Awards

Individual Year Award Title Result 2019 Southampton Film Festival: Best Film Editing Desert Prayer 1999 Emmy Award Teen Killers: A Second Chance? 1999 Emmy Award Kids Who Kill 1997 Emmy Award Memphis PD: War in the Streets 1995 World Medal New York Festivals On Nature's Trail 1995 Columbus Intl. Film Festival: Bronze Medal On Nature's Trail 1992 CINE Golden Eagle The Kingdom 1991 Cindy Writing Award The Kingdom 1984 CINE Golden Eagle The Cafeteria

Production Year Award Title Result 2016 Emmy Award The Seventies 2015 IDA Award The Seventies 2011 Emmy Award The Kennedy Detail 2004 Peabody Award Black Sky: Burt Rutan's Race for Space 2000 Emmy Award (PBS season) American High 2000 Emmy Award (Fox season) American High 1997 R.F. Kennedy Award Memphis PD: War in the Streets 1997 CableACE Award Memphis PD: War in the Streets 1995 Academy Award (Oscar) Blues Highway 1995 W.C. Handy Award Blues Highway 1994 Chicago Intl. Film Festival Grand Prize: Gold Hugo Blues Highway 1986 DGA Award Eugene O’Neill: A Glory of Ghosts 1982 Chicago Intl. Film Festival: Grand Prize: Gold Hugo Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean