Episode 149 | Finding the Story in the Edit | With Nels Bangerter

Episode Summary

What happens when the documentary you thought you were making isn't the documentary waiting to be discovered in your footage?

Every documentary filmmaker knows the feeling. You've spent months, sometimes years, gathering footage. You've followed characters, conducted interviews, captured unexpected moments, and accumulated more material than you know what to do with. And now, sitting in front of your editing timeline, you're facing one of the most difficult questions in documentary filmmaking:

Where's the story?

In this episode of The Documentary Life, Chris G. Parkhurst is joined by acclaimed documentary editor Nels Bangerter, whose work includes Cameraperson, 32 Sounds, Let the Fire Burn, and Dick Johnson Is Dead, for a thoughtful conversation about finding structure, meaning, and emotional truth in the editing room.

Drawing from his experiences collaborating with filmmakers such as Kirsten Johnson and Jason Osder, Nels explores what happens when editors approach footage with curiosity rather than predetermined answers. He discusses the importance of watching and absorbing material, recognizing the emotional relationships hidden within seemingly ordinary moments, and understanding when a film's original structure may need to give way to something unexpected.

They also explore the creative relationship between directors and editors, the tension between emotional and narrative logic, why some films benefit from abandoning conventional structures, and what filmmakers can do when they've spent years working on a documentary that still doesn't seem to be coming together.

Ultimately, this episode is about something more than editing techniques. It's about patience, trust, collaboration, and the willingness to let the material challenge our assumptions.

Because sometimes finding the story means letting go of the one you thought you were telling.

In This Episode

• Why finding the story is often the most challenging—and rewarding—part of documentary editing
• How Chris's experience editing Born in a Ballroom revealed an unexpected emotional dimension to the film
• Why Nels prefers to watch as much footage as possible before making major editorial decisions
• How an editor learns to recognize what the material is trying to communicate
• What Cameraperson reveals about discovering structure in seemingly disconnected footage
• Why the film you planned isn't necessarily the film you ultimately need to make
• How Nels and director Jason Osder discovered a different approach to Let the Fire Burn
• The importance of trust and creative collaboration between documentary directors and editors
• Why emotional logic matters—and why a film still needs an underlying sense of clarity
• What filmmakers can do when they've spent years editing and still can't find their story
• Why creating a watchable version of a film early can help break through structural problems
• How to approach audience feedback without losing confidence in your own creative instincts

Chapters

00:00 – The documentary you imagined vs. the film you actually captured

00:45 – Born in a Ballroom: Discovering an unexpected story in the edit

03:06 – When a grandmother's recordings reveal something more

05:31 – Finding the story that was there all along

06:15 – W