Acclaimed Documentary Editor Karen Schmeer Killed in Manhattan Hit-and-Run

Gut-wrenching news began to circulate around New York, Park City and the entire independent film community this morning when word went out that acclaimed editor Karen Schmeer, longtime collaborator of Errol Morris, was killed in a hit-and-run accident Friday night in Manhattan.

Schmeer worked with Morris on FAST, CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL, MR. DEATH and the Oscar-winning FOG OF WAR.  She is credited as a co-editor of Morris' most recent film, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE.  She also edited Robb Moss' THE SAME RIVER TWICE, Sidney Pollack's SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY and Lucia Small's MY FATHER, THE GENIUS.

Moments ago, Morris broke the news on Twitter:

SENSELESS TRAGEDY: My beloved editor Karen Schmeer was killed last night by a car used in the robbery of a drugstore.  She was 39 years old.

There is expected to be a moment of tribute to Schmeer at tonight's Sundance Film Festival Awards, where Schmeer received the Editing Award last year for her work on Greg Barker's SERGIO.  Barker is reportedly going to present this year's editing prize at tonight's ceremony.  [Update: You can read the text of Barker's remarks here.]

According to an early article in the New York Times, Schmeer (not named in the article) was crossing Broadway near West 90th Street when she was struck, just before 8 PM. 

Thanks to Garret Savage, Karen's friend and fellow editor, for the above photograph.

Comments

[Matt Dentler]

So sad. She was terrific.

[twitter.com/knowlengr]

Such a waste, and desperately unfair.

[Chiemi Karasawa]

What a tragic, tragic loss! I'm mortified by this senseless tragedy. Karen, your brilliant work will be your tremendous legacy - we were all lucky to have known you.

[Doug Block]

Unbelievably sad news! What a terrible loss for the entire documentary community. My heart goes out to her family, friends and colleagues.

[Joshua Zema]

She was such a nice person...so very helpful and willing to provide much needed advice to young filmmakers. A tragic loss.

[Rachel]

Aside from mourning her death because of her great profession, let us mourn that a human being suffered and died at the expense of what most people do: act out for themselves.

[Gerard]

I went to High School with Karen in Portland, and even back then she was a fil buff and shutterbug... not to mention being cool, and funny, and kind and generous to a fault, and having this quirky, unique sense of - well, not just fun, more like joie de vivre really.

I just fonud out about this - absolutely senseless.

[David Nugent]

Karen was a friend to me upon my arrival in NYC years ago. She, like I, came to this city from Boston and we felt a certain kinship. She was kind, funny, smart and sweet...everything that a new transplant to a big city treasures in a friend. That she died last night, on my street in this big city, in such a thoughtless and hollow way, is devastating. My thoughts go out to her friends and family.

[Pamela]

Oh, this is so horrible! I just saw her a few weeks ago at the HBO Sergio screening. So sad, my condolences to her family. What an immensely talented and lovely lady.

[Paul Sturtz]

This is awful. Karen was a down-to-earth, generous-hearted, sweet and smart person -- and wonderfully talented. You'd be hard-pressed to ever meet someone as universally liked as her -- from what I could tell, she maintained an innocent, gentle air even when she was dealing with difficult people and situations. My condolences go to her friends and family. As you know, she was a one-of-a-kind person, and she will be greatly missed, even by people like me who only knew her fleetingly.

[Nancy Buirski]

I showed Theme: Murder at the inaugural Full Frame festival. Karen's editing of that 1998 film revealed the expressive potential of documentary. We were stirred by her imagination and vision. I grew to admire her as a person and a great talent. Her death is a tragedy for all who love film.

[Lewis Wheeler]

We love you Karen.

[Ingrid Kopp]

That's a lovely photo of her - it shows all the wonderful things people have said about her (I never met her but have always been in awe of her editing - Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is one of my very favorite documentaries). Condolences to everyone who knew her.

[Melissa Navas]

To Karen's friends, colleagues, family and fans:

I am a reporter at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland and am working on a story about Karen today. I'd like to collect as many stories as possible to share her life with our readers. I can be reached at the contact info below.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/madaboutmovies/2010/01/famed_portland-bred_film_edito.html

Regards,
Melissa

503-294-5055
[email protected]

[Leslie]

What incredibly awful and tragic news. My heart aches for her family and friends. When I think back on our days playing soccer in grade school I have to laugh at the memory of Karen sporting 7 layers of clothing laughing in the rain. What a wonderful, fun and kind person she was...that picture is simply perfect.

[Marty B.]

I wish you would have left my comment online.

Those are important questions and the friends and family of Karen are the only people who really have the moral authority to ask them right now.

If the questions are not put to the NYPD and Mayor soon, this incident will fade away just like the others. NYPD will continue to run deadly high-speed chases on our streets.

[AJ Schnack]

For the record, I didn't remove any comments from this thread. Perhaps you posted somewhere else.

[joebuti]

the POS they caught should get 25 years minimum with no possibility of parole...