The first guest of the project Cinergy in 2019 will be British film editor Joe Walker who is mainly known for his collaboration with two of the most prominent film directors of today - Steve McQueen and Denis Villeneuve. He worked as an editor on Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 and his work has been appreciated and nominated for several major film awards. The master class will focus on his personal approach to film story, film rhythm and sound landscape including practical film clips from several films.

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Joe Walker was trained at the BBC in the 1980s, splicing and track-laying 16mm for docs, arts, children's and graphic design departments before gravitating to the drama cutting room. At the same time, Walker was also initially trained as a classical composer. In 1984, he received his B.A. degree in music at the University of York.
After several TV series and films, he started cooperating on the film Hunger (2008) by Steve McQueen.

 

Since that he edited all of Steve McQueen's features including Shame, 12 Years a Slave and, currently, Chicago-set heist thriller Widows. And it says something about the talent of Joe Walker that not one but two of the most acclaimed directors working today have chosen to partner with him. Joe Walker became also a key partner for Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve and his films -Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, gaining two Oscar nominations in the process.

His films with McQueen and Villeneuve showcase experiments with cross-cutting and flashback structures. McQueen has paid tribute to Walker's ability to find the rhythm of a film. "A great film editor is attuned to the silences. They can be just as valuable as words. It's all about timing. And that's what he has - Joe has time."