The Eclectic and Exceptional Editing of Leslie Liu

  Leslie states that it’s often the most challenging projects that she enjoys the most. Noting that 2020’s A Cthulhu Story demanded extensive work in post to fix, she also confirms it is her favorite professional experience. This suspense/fantasy film about two photographers separated by thirty years but connected by their common ownership of a camera, resulted in Ms. Liu’s nomination for Best Editing at the Paris Film Festival and a Best Editing win from the New York Movie Awards. Unshot scenes made the continuity of the story demanding but Leslie confesses, “I believe most editors get stressed out when receiving this kind of footage but I feel rebuilding the story to make it more compelling is the most fascinating part of the post-production process. A Cthulhu Story gave me an opportunity to discover numerous possibilities through different combinations of scenes.” A Cthulhu Story was also awarded Best Picture at the Hollywood Gold Awards, Best Fantasy at the New York Movie Awards, and Best Thriller at the Florence Film Awards.

   While directors are known for a signature style, editors are considered most accomplished when they conform themselves to the story being told. From her work on the Cupshe swimwear videos she crafted which appeared on Hulu and Apple TV to the suspenseful Writing Class, the dark comedy of Margie’s Christmas Eve (awarded Best Editing at the Canadian Diversity Film Festival) and Nicole de la Cruz’s “Moonstruck” music video (more than half a million views on YouTube), Ms. Liu has continually displayed a hyper sensitive awareness of how to intensify the mood of a story to deliver an absorbing experience for audiences everywhere. The cultural borders which use to delineate which types of productions would acquire an international audience have dissipated, just take a quick look of the popular cue of any streaming service to validate this concept. An editor like Leslie Liu who possesses a multicultural perspective is a major asset to those with whom she collaborates. She informs, “I can work on every kind of project and I feel happy and excited about working on different types. I enjoy exploring and building up every new story in postproduction. I think this is because I was raised in Asia and then relocated to a Western country, giving me a chance to experience different cultures and enabling me to better understand every culture. This has allowed me to easily cooperate on any project, understanding the mood the director wants to achieve. I’m thankful that it gives me a chance to experience different lives and meet different people. This has solidified in my mind the understanding that everybody is the same no matter what their gender or skin color.”

Writer- Coleman Haan