The Briefing Room

The Brief:

After 10 long years in the making, director Steven Sebring’s multi-award winning documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is hitting the big screen. Edited by New York-based jumP’s Lin Polito for the first five years and finished by Angelo Carrao ACE, the vision and spirit of poet, painter, musician, and punk rock icon Patti Smith is captured in the most humble and pure state. Amid a number of accolades, the film has been awarded the Winner of Excellence in Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. Ten years of footage is skillfully threaded together to define an intimate portrait featuring the artist’s breathtaking performances on tour, unrestricting love for her children, devotion to late husband Fred “Sonic” Smith, and overwhelmingly hypnotic narrative poetry.

From jumP Editor Lin Polito:

Steven began filming Patti in 1996 when he went to London to film her tour. In the beginning, the editing process was like throwing things against the wall and seeing what stuck. It’s a long process, but it yields interesting results if you’re patient, like sculpting or painting layers. While I continued my career in commercials, I would revisit the project as Steven provided new footage. By the end of my work on the project, which was five years later, I had taken a break from commercials for a few months and was working 10-12 hours almost every day out of his open loft studio while he did his commercial photography work.

Seeing the new footage was great, especially the footage at home. Patti opened up in a manner that suggested a sense of peace and trust in Steven. It must have been a triumph for him to have her expose herself on her own accord and in such a totally natural way.

Steven had a unique vision and aesthetic of what he wanted to do, and my job was to support that. We had worked together before on a short film, so our style of work involved a series of back and forth feedback. I’ve always thought Patti was very cool, so the subject matter of the project really inspired me. Even though my input on the project was in the beginning of the venture, I’m happy to see that what I did is still intact.

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The Creds:

Film: Dream of Life
Director: Steven Sebring

Editorial: jumP/NY
Editor: Lin Polito
Managing Director: Dee Tagert

Editorial: ACE
Editor: Angelo Carrao

About jumP:

jumP is an award-winning, New York-based creative editorial boutique focusing on commercials, features, short films, music videos, and emerging media content. The firm works with a wide-range of top-tier brands, directors, and agencies continually delivering powerful and efficient results for each of its clients. The company roster includes Partner/Editors: Luis Moreno and Michael Saia, Editors: Lin Polito, William Zitser and David Bryen, Partner/Managing Director: Dee Tagert and Executive Producer Elizabeth Krajewski.

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