Born in Seattle, Gail Gilbert has lived all over the world and finds Chicago to be more of a base than a home. She has a degree in Radio-TV-Film from Northwestern University, but really learned her craft by working in production in Europe and post-production in the US.
Her career as a Film Editor was fine-tuned in the Chicago advertising community, where she has edited high-end national TV commercials for over 20 years. She views her role as Editor as that of a collage artist -- manipulating visuals and audio over time. Her success comes from her ability to see what is in the film -- not what was intended to be shot. “Anyone can move clips around a timeline. What people hire me for is my level of taste and the decisions I make.”
Her career as a Filmmaker has grown out of experience in the post-production world, combined with her background as a still photographer and her vision of an intimate, personal cinema. By attending the Festival de Cannes and the New York Film Festival, Gail keeps up with current filmmaking beyond what arrives to commercial screens. Seeing what is being made on a global level feeds her creative sensibilities as both an editor and a director.
Recently Gail has entered the academic arena as a student and a professor. She is in her third year of the Basic Program of the University of Chicago, a four-year survey of the literature that is the basis of modern culture.
In 2007 she joined the staff of FLASHPOINT ACADEMY to teach Post Production. Students spend the first year learning the AVID and Final Cut applications. In the second year they learn the art of editing. Because the school is organized in a block system, Gail can teach without it interfering with her work at CERISE FILMS.
Gail credits her career in film to Luis Buñel’s THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE. It opened her eyes to the possibilities of film beyond a recreation of the world around us. She is married and has three children. They all love to travel and ski
