Sara Newens is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and Emmy-award winning editor who began her career working for CBS News in New York City. She recently served as lead editor on Lana Wilson’s PRETTY BABY: BROOKE SHIELDS, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and received two Primetime Emmy nominations including Outstanding Picture Editing. She also collaborated with Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering on the HBO docuseries ALLEN V. FARROW, which garnered seven Emmy nominations in 2021, including Outstanding Picture Editing as well as Cinema Eye Honors and ACE Eddie award nominations. In addition, she served as editor/writer for ON THE RECORD, which premiered at Sundance in 2020. She is known for directing/producing/editing The New York Times Op-Docs film FOOTPRINT: WHERE THE TOWERS STOOD as well as the documentary feature TOP SPIN with Co-Director Mina T. Son. She has also delved into cutting fiction and co-edited the critically acclaimed indie feature FREELAND.
A graduate of the MFA Documentary Film Program at Stanford University, she continues to create original work through her production company Wild Pair Films, co-owned by Mina T. Son. They recently launched a new feature entitled RACIST TREES in partnership with Wayfarer Studios, which premiered at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and had its North American Premiere at the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival.