FILM EDITING
Every documentary has its own world and language hidden in its footage, waiting to be excavated, studied, lived with, and codified. Aaron's work falls somewhere between construction and reconstruction, grasping for a truth that merges the old and the new.
He has edited nine award-winning feature documentaries, including:
Bringing Ramona Diaz's And So It Begins to its Sundance premiere; guiding UnBroken through animation design to picture lock and finishing as writer and editor; mining hundreds of hours of new and archival material from the war in Syria for Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested’s Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS; telling the inspiring story of a community of Holocaust survivors who refused to surrender their joie-de-vivre in Four Seasons Lodge; collaborating with DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus on their journey back to Bill Clinton’s political gurus in The Return of the War Room; and crafting the personal and up-close verité films of Andrew Berends from Iraq and Nigeria - Blood of My Brother, When Adnan Comes Home, and Delta Boys. He also edited June Weddings, a short fiction film adaptation of Barbara Hammond’s acclaimed play.
Explore Aaron’s films below.
And So It Begins
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 99 minutes, 2024.
AND SO IT BEGINS, amid the 2022 presidential elections in the Philippines, follows a grassroots movement emerging to protect truth and democracy from growing threats. The incumbent Vice President of the Philippines, Leni Robredo, combats Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, the son of the former dictator, and his unrelenting social media campaign. A new people’s power movement is rising in Robredo’s name. Masses of working-class citizens praise the socially conscious attorney and perform renditions of pop songs in the streets in her honor.
Official Selection, Sundance, Thessaloniki, CPH:DOX. Coming to PBS Fall 2024.
UnBroken
Edited by Aaron Soffin & Dina Guttmann, Written by Beth Lane & Aaron Soffin, 103 minutes, 2022.
UNBROKEN chronicles the seven Weber siblings who evaded certain capture and death, and ultimately escaped Nazi Germany, after being hidden together in a laundry hut by a benevolent farmer. Emboldened by their father’s mandate that they ‘always stay together,’ the children used their cunning and instincts to fight through hunger, loneliness, rape, bombings and fear. Their journey culminates with a painful ultimatum, when they are told that they must declare themselves as orphans and separate from their father in order to escape to a new life in America. Unbeknownst to them, this salvation would be what finally tore them apart, not to be reunited for another 40 years.
Best Doc Premiere, Heartland International Film Festival.
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 99 minutes, 2017. Named one of the Top 5 Documentaries of 2017 by the National Board of Review.
HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS chronicles Syria's descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed the rise of ISIS. Pulling from nearly 1,000 hours of stunningly visceral footage ranging from that of a family living under ruthless ISIS control that finally fled to Turkey, to that of Kurdish fighters in Sinjar and Shia militias in Iraq and al-Qaida-affiliated fighters in and around Aleppo and Raqqa - Aaron worked with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and best-selling author Sebastian Junger, and Emmy-winning producer Nick Quested, to examine the Syrian war's harrowing carnage, devastating political and social consequences, and, most importantly, its horrific human toll, while presenting an alarming picture of the West's role in the creation of ISIS. Read the New Yorker review here.
Delta Boys
Co-produced and edited by Aaron Soffin, 55 minutes, 2012. Recipient of the 2008 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Grant.
DELTA BOYS explores the previously untold stories of the Niger Delta militancy, rebels who banded together in the face of corrupt government oppression in this oil-rich region of Nigeria. The film follows two militants: Ateke Tom, the “Godfather” of the Niger Delta Vigilante Force, who attacked oil installations and pipelines, kidnapped foreigners, and made the entire Delta a no-go-zone when his requests for greater wealth distribution were ignored, and Chima, a 21-year-old who left home to join Ateke’s fight.
Watch the full film on SnagFilms, Amazon, YouTube, or iTunes.
Four Seasons Lodge
Edited by Kim Connell and Aaron Soffin, 102 minutes, 2008. Broadcast nationally on PBS. Winner, Audience Award, Miami Jewish Film Festival.
FOUR SEASONS LODGE tells the story of an aging group of Holocaust survivors who are haunted by the past but driven by an unquenchable passion for living. The group gathers each summer at an idyllic hideaway in the Catskills, where they savor tightly bonded friendships, find new love and celebrate their survival.
Watch the full film on Amazon.
The Return of the War Room
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 82 minutes, 2008. Commissioned by the Sundance Channel.
THE RETURN OF THE WAR ROOM, aired on the fifteenth anniversary of the release of directors DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus’ Oscar-nominated film The War Room, follows the original team of George Stephanopoulos and James Carville on a journey back to 1992 when a Governor named Bill from Arkansas decided to take a chance on running for President. Current interviews alongside older footage underpin an exciting drama demonstrating that a few dedicated minds can change the political landscape. As these Clinton strategists, who still talk daily, reminisce about the creativity, emotion and passion that drove Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, the film brings hope to anyone who feels strongly about America’s past and future leaders. In this excerpt, James Carville and staunch republican Mary Matalin reminisce about the beginnings of their relationship – proving that not even major political differences can come in the way of love.
When Adnan Comes Home
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 73 minutes, 2005. Winner, Best Documentary, Vail Film Festival.
Shortly after the US invasion of Iraq, Adnan, a teenager in Baghdad, is arrested for stealing two meters of electrical cable, something that Iraqi law deems a crime against the state. At first, Adnan's father is so angry and embarrassed that he refuses to visit Adnan in jail. But then Adnan is badly burned in a prison fire and compassion takes the upper hand. His poverty-stricken family must learn how to navigate the Iraqi justice system quickly or risk leaving him badly hurt in a prison hospital.
The DVD is available for purchase on Amazon.
The Blood of My Brother
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 85 minutes, 2005. Released in theaters nationally.
THE BLOOD OF MY BROTHER shows the war in Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family grieving the loss of a son who was killed by an American patrol as he stood guard at a mosque. The subtle dynamic between this personal grief and rage expands to encompass the burgeoning culture of militancy found among young Iraqi men and the indelible impact this war will leave on Iraqi society.
June Weddings
Edited by Aaron Soffin, 20 minutes, Fiction, 2005.
JUNE WEDDINGS follows single father RJ (Sundance-winner Tom Noonan) into a New York City bar after the wedding of his only son, where RJ escaped to have a quiet beer and practice his reception speech. He meets Russian barfly Sonja (Obie-award winner Elzbieta Czyzewska) sipping screw-top champagne and reading Chekhov. A lifetime of hurts spill out, an intimacy is forged, and a speech nearly forgotten. JUNE WEDDINGS was adapted from Barbara Hammond's one-act play and filmed at Sunny's Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
