Applications for the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship are accepted during our open calls. The open call for the 2024-2025 program ran from Monday, April 1, 2024 to Sunday, May 12, 2024. Thank you to all who applied. Applicants were notified of their status in August 2024 and our fellows were announced to the public in October 2024.

The fellowship is a year-long professional development program for assistant, associate and emerging documentary film editors from historically underrepresented backgrounds and experiences. The program consists of monthly small group meetings with seasoned documentary editor mentors. Ideal applicants for our fellowship program are currently working as documentary assistant, associate or early career editors and are looking to work towards building a sustainable career. While there are many talented editors who are also pursuing directing and producing careers, this is a program for people who are committed to documentary editing. Applicants should be curious, open-minded, collaborative, and self-motivated people who are eager to get together with other documentary creatives to talk about the art, craft, ethics and business of editing documentaries.

For more information about the fellowship program and its application process, read our 2024-2025 Application Guidelines and our 2024-2025 FAQ documents. Information about our 2026-2027 fellowship program will be posted here in early 2026.