Inside the Edit with BIPOC Doc Editors: SABBATH QUEEN
About this Event Recording
Enter the editing suite with Sundance Collab and BIPOC Doc Editors for a lively conversation on Sabbath Queen, the award-winning, New York Times Critic’s Pick documentary from Sandi DuBowski. In this session you’ll learn how the film’s editors distilled 21 years of footage into a singular, provocative work of art.
The discussion brings together five key collaborators from the film:
- Director Sandi DuBowski
- Editors and Screenwriters Francisco Bello and Jeremy Stulberg
- Editor Kyle Crichton
- Associate Editor Meranda Yslas
Sabbath Queen charts the epic journey of Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, a religious leader turned drag queen. The film joins Amichai on his lifelong quest to radically reinvent religion, challenge patriarchy, champion interfaith love, and stand up for peace.
The film premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and went on to screen at major festivals in Zurich, Amsterdam, Palm Springs, and elsewhere. Critics have called it “fast-paced, well-shot” (Variety), “overwhelmingly ambitious” (Indiewire), and “required viewing not just for queer people, not just for Jews, but for everyone” (Next Best Picture). It marks the first feature from Dubowski since Trembling Before G-d, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. The film’s editing team will dissect key scenes and offer useful strategies for documentary editors. Don’t miss this chance to learn from veteran nonfiction filmmakers on the craft of documentary editing.
The film’s editing team dissects key scenes and offers useful strategies for documentary editors. Join for this chance to learn from veteran nonfiction filmmakers on the craft of documentary editing.
This event is part of the “Inside the Edit with BIPOC Doc Editors” series, a program hosted by Sundance Collab in collaboration with BIPOC Doc Editors. Don’t miss this chance to explore the craft of documentary editing with industry leaders. Follow these links to watch our previous events in this series on the films Spermworld and Patrice: The Movie.
Event RecordingTeam
Sandi DuBowski
Sandi DuBowski is the director/producer of Sabbath Queen, director/producer of Trembling Before G-d, producer of A Jihad for Love, and co-producer of Budrus.
His award-winning work has screened at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Toronto, theatrically released in 150 cities, and broadcast on ZDF/Arte, BBC, Channel 4, PBS.
In 2020, he was invited to become a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. DuBowski spearheaded a groundbreaking impact campaign with the award-winning Trembling Before G-d, personally conducting 850 live events, for over 250,000 people, which changed the lives of countless individuals, their families, religious leaders, and communities around the world. Feature stories on the project appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, NPR, and BBC News.
From 2009-2016, DuBowski worked with over 125 of the world’s best social justice documentaries as the Outreach Director of Doc Society’s Good Pitch. He is Co-Founder of The Creative Resistance, a collective of media makers who create award-winning political ads and design. In the mid-1990’s he began his media and activism work at Planned Parenthood Federation of America focused on the Christian right and the anti-abortion movement.
Francisco Bello, ACE
Francisco Bello, ACE is an Oscar® Nominated and Emmy® winning filmmaker. Credits include SALIM BABA (Best Short Documentary Oscar and Emmy Nominee), WAR DON DON, (SXSW Special Jury Prize, two Emmy nominations), MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND (SXSW Narrative Grand Jury Prize), Barbara Kopple’s Emmy nominated DESERT ONE, and the triple Emmy winning THE FIRST WAVE.
Jeremy Stulberg, ACE
Jeremy Stulberg, ACE, is a Sundance Documentary Fellow, and a filmmaker and editor who is known for acclaimed works like MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE (Sundance 2025) GROWING UP COY (Netflix), and THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX (PBS/POV). Additional highlights include Emmy-winning series VICE (Showtime), Indie Spirit-nominated CHILDREN OF THE UNDERGROUND (FX), and the queer cult comedy classic ANOTHER GAY MOVIE.
Kyle Crichton
Kyle Crichton is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, editor, and post-production supervisor with 15 years experience. In addition to SABBATH QUEEN (Tribeca, DC/DOX), he edited ANGEL DOSE (Emmy Winner, MountainFilm, WHYY PBS) and has worked on projects like COMING HOME, THE LAST OUT and UNSCHOOLED. He recently wrapped a feature documentary on the 50-year legacy of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and is now editing an upcoming docuseries for VICE Sports.
Meranda Yslas
Meranda Yslas is an emerging documentary film editor with experience as a video journalist. She was an Associate Editor on SABBATH QUEEN and has worked as an Assistant Editor for CNN and Gidalya Pictures. As a bilingual Mexican-American storyteller, she loves the opportunity to work in both languages.
Soheil Rezayazdi
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Soheil Rezayazdi is a Digital Course & Event Producer at the Sundance Institute, where he produces multi-session courses, master classes, filmmaker Q&As, and other digital programs for Sundance Collab. Prior to Sundance, Soheil served as the Nonfiction Programs Manager at the Gotham Film & Media Institute. He oversaw the Gotham’s core documentary programs: the Documentary Feature Lab, the Spotlight on Documentaries project market, and the Documentary Development Initiative in partnership with HBO Documentary Films. Soheil has worked with emerging filmmakers since 2015, when he began a seven-year tenure at the Columbia University MFA Film Program. At Columbia he managed the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF), the Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film Noir Festival, and the Carla Kuhn Memorial Speaker Series.
Soheil is also a freelance writer on film and pop culture with articles in Indiewire, McSweeney’s, Vice, Filmmaker Magazine, Documentary Magazine, Paper, Paste, and elsewhere. He has also served as an external reviewer for artist programs operated by Creative Capital, Kartemquin Pictures, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and the International Documentary Association. A native of Iran, he holds an MA in journalism and a BA in film studies from the University of Iowa.