Acclaimed editor Yvette M. Amirian, ACE refuses to let genre restrict or define her.
“I think there’s often too much focus on whether or not an editor is ‘capable’ of cutting a specific genre,” says Amirian. “To me, editing is editing. I can cut comedy as efficiently as I can cut horror or drama, but at the end of the day, what’s important is that I’m executing the director’s vision while doing it.”
It is that collaborative and flexible mindset that has allowed Amirian to cut such a wide variety of films throughout her career. Her most recent movie, ExMas, is a romantic comedy set against a heartwarming Christmas backdrop. It is a cozy departure from her previous film, The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, a brutal and unflinching story of trauma and survival. Both films are remarkable in their own right, and Amirian largely credits her relationship with both directors.
As an Armenian-American woman, Amirian is also passionate about Armenian representation and storytelling. She was therefore grateful for the serendipitous relationship she built with Armenian filmmaker Ophelia Harutyunyan. Amirian and Harutyunyan met through their budding network of Armenian creatives, and ultimately collaborated on the short film It Takes a Village…, which has been a tour de force on the awards circuit, winning Best International Short at the LA Shorts International Film Festival.
But Amirian is looking beyond accolades in measuring the film’s impact.
“While I’m excited for the journey it’s had so far – we’ve played at I think 30 or so festivals all around the world and won multiple awards and accolades along the way – I’m hopeful for it to continue reaching wider audiences to represent our people, and especially our women, in a way I certainly have never seen in the mainstream.”
Awards Focus sat down with Amirian to discuss her entire body of work, as well as her experiences as a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Awards Focus: ExMas is a romantic comedy directed by Jonah Feingold. This is a bit of a departure from your other recent scripted work – The Integrity of Joseph Chambers directed by Robert Machoian. How do you best prepare to channel a director’s vision in these different genres?
Yvette M. Amirian, ACE: More than the genre, every director is different. I think there’s often too much focus on whether or not an editor is “capable” of cutting a specific genre. To me, editing is editing. I can cut comedy as efficiently as I can cut horror or drama, but at the end of the day, what’s important is that I’m executing the director’s vision while doing it. So for me, those initial conversations are extremely important.
Both Jonah and Robert had a similar style in that they had references for films they wanted me to watch. With Robert, ahead of Integrity of Joseph Chambers, it was a list of films that had been percolating for him as he was in pre-production that he wanted me to immerse myself in, specifically with regards to tone and pace.
With Jonah, he shared his director’s deck for EXmas as soon as I was attached, and I watched every film he referenced on it, whether or not I’d seen it, to really get in the spirit of the type of story he wanted to tell. It was clear from day one — this isn’t a typical rom-com or holiday film that you’ll watch once this December and forget about. It’s meant to be a classic that people could enjoy years and years from now, and I really feel like we accomplished that.
AF: What is the key to cutting comedic scenes like those in ExMas?
Amirian: With comedies, I take what I call a very “layered” approach. First, I have to make sure I’m choosing the best performances. That part is not very different to drama, where you are similarly allowing the best performances to guide you and speak to you. But where in a drama it’s what pulls at your heartstrings or makes you cry, in a comedy it’s what makes me laugh out loud, or what makes me want to run to the next room and get my assistant and say “you have to watch this, it’s hilarious”.
I also have to make sure all the pieces are there. There is often so much improv to comb through, that it’s very similar to cutting a documentary – you’re building pieces of a story that maybe didn’t exist on paper when you read the script, but you’re doing that while balancing the best line deliveries and maintaining consistency in performances. Then, it’s about pacing – tightening so the jokes land in the right places, or there is enough breath where there needs to be for a laugh, etc. And finally, and probably most importantly, finding the reaction shots from other characters within the scene. Because when you see someone’s reaction to something funny, it almost serves as a cue for the audience to laugh.
The truth is, comedy is also very subjective. What I find funny may not be to my director or producer and vice versa, so a lot of it is also about having variations in your cuts and alternates in your back pocket so you can audition them for those early audiences and see what sticks.
AF: Is there a favorite moment or behind the scenes story from making this film?
Amirian: I had so much fun making this film that it’s hard to choose. We had a wealth of hilarious beats that had to be left behind on the cutting room floor that I miss, but I know it was all ultimately in service of what the movie became and it truly got better and better with each tightened pass, so I feel confident that we delivered it in a good place. I think the best part for me was just making our team laugh. Watching Jonah’s face break out in a smile when he heard an improv line he forgot about, or seeing our producer Rich break out in a loud laugh over a reaction shot I added. I’m the first audience for the footage they captured… but they’re my first audience for editing to make sure a laugh or scene is working. So it was very fun and collaborative in that way.
AF: You also had a short in the Oscar race: It Takes a Village…Can you tell us more about your role as editor and producer on this project?
Amirian: I was an editor on this short film, and I am so proud to have been a part of it. I’m Armenian and the film was shot in Armenia and tells the story of a remote village in the country where there are no men. I’d had on my dream list for years to help tell Armenian stories, and stories about women and motherhood, so this certainly checked all those boxes. I loved working with Ophelia Harutyunyan, our writer/director to help bring this story to life. While I’m excited for the journey it’s had so far – we’ve played at I think 30 or so festivals all around the world and won multiple awards and accolades along the way – I’m hopeful for it to continue reaching wider audiences to represent our people, and especially our women, in a way I certainly have never seen in the mainstream.
AF: You are passionate about Armenian stories and representation. Can you tell us more about your storytelling and advocacy work within this community?
Amirian: Like I mentioned before, this is something I have wanted to do for years, really since I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker as a teenager. But since I’m not the one writing and directing and bringing these stories to life, I have to find ways to help tell them as an editor. I have found in the past few years, sadly especially since the war broke out in 2016 and continued until very recently in 2023, that many creative professionals felt the same way.
In the midst of this very difficult time in our country’s history, it unified us. It pushed a lot of us together to tell our stories that are otherwise severely underrepresented in film or even worse misrepresented. That’s what led me to Michael Aloyan, a talented filmmaker for whom I edited a short film Carnivore that has also been playing at a number of festivals, and I had also consulted on a feature for Jivan Avetisyan prior to that.
Those experiences thankfully led me to Ophelia and It Takes a Village, and have given me a lot of hope that audiences are interested in our history and do want to see us represented authentically. I’m just so proud to have been a part of bringing Ophelia’s vision to life, and no matter what happens with the film, I hope it opens more doors for Armenian filmmakers and Armenian stories to be seen around the world.
AF: You are also an educator at USC! How does your work with students inspire you and what is your goal in the classroom?
Amirian: I love teaching at USC, and I’m a proud alumni of the school too. That work as an educator and mentor has inspired my editing significantly, because teaching has undoubtedly made me a better editor. The growth that has provided for me in my career has been something I’ve consistently been able to pour back into the school semester after semester, for close to a decade now. So those two parts of my career are interconnected and inform each other over and over again. That’s something I’m extremely grateful for and hope to continue providing value to my students as my own editing career grows.
AF: What is next for you and where can we find you on social media?
Amirian: I’ve been fortunate to be busy with these two projects, and I am excited for what’s next. My plan is to continue working in features, but of course I’m always open to any projects that speak to me. I’m eager to collaborate again with the directors I’ve been so fortunate to work with recently, like Robert, Jonah, and Ophelia, because they have all been such wonderful experiences. You can find me at @yvettemamirian on Instagram, or on Facebook under “Yvette Mangassarian-Amirian”.