2007 highlights
My interest in film was awakened at age 14 when I watched Raging Bull for the first time. It blew me away. Back then, I didn´t have the vaguest idea what it was about. I just had a strange feeling in the depths of my stomach. Little did I know that the film was considered to be of one the absolute all time classics and had received an Oscar for the editing.

Despite tough competition and the active discouragement of my teachers I applied and gained entry to film school in Ireland. I turned 21 half way through my first term. Those years spent at Dun Laoire College of Art and Design, living and breathing film, were nothing short of paradise!

During my final year I specialized in editing, using a flat bed film editing machine. However on graduation, I soon discovered that every body in the industry had just made the move to Non linear editing systems. After several years of struggling I was just beginning to find my feet, when I fell in love with a German woman. So I packed up my bags, sold my CD collection and moved to the most dynamic city in Europe, Berlin!

A career break of several years ensued as I attempted to learn "the awful German language". At 28 years of age I started trying to find work, in my new home, abroad. There were plenty of opportunities in the underground scene in Berlin. It proved to be a challenging experience and very seldom boring. The great thing about working with people who have relatively little experience is that they often have ideas which border on something between naivety and genius.

These days, I thankfully find myself doing more and more "professional" work. This too has it´s challenges, be it working to a very tight dead line, sticking rigidly to the script or working on subject matter which doesn´t necessarily interest me personally! Last but by no means least, there is that adrenalin kick. It´s unbeatable because the editing always has to work and be completed fast and elegantly.

But the underground film scene occasionally offers new challenges. I see myself getting sucked into the cinema sport phenomena which is just starting up in Berlin. Although I suspect more as a networker and director than editor!

Ironically, it´s precisely this kind of "fringe" activity which keeps me fresh and alive as an editor. Because any one can specialize and learn a formula with a view to producing "perfect" work with the help of lots of really expensive equipment. The problem is that we don´t live in a perfect world. Both the work flow and for want of a better expression, consumption flow are so varied and complicated that some thing will inevitably go wrong!

First and foremost, I worry about the message. I do this by editing largely, following my feelings. And yes I admit it I too can not resist the temptation to have things as technically perfect as possible. But I´m still convinced it´s all about creating those tiny eye-opening moments. The ones which stop the viewer dead in his tracks. Because it just looks so great for no apparent reason. And there´s some kind of message in there that the viewer doesn´t quite get, but is hooked and forgets to get the next beer from the fridge.

Because life is too short for boring editing.