This put up was written by Michelle Gallina and initially appeared on the Adobe weblog on Could 12, 2025.
Regardless of having no coach at his highschool, Ku is set to be seen by his dream college, the College of Oregon.
Directed by Paige Bethmann and edited by Steph Khoury, the movie follows Ku’s journey to run a collegiate qualifying time, all whereas reconciling with the reminiscence of his great-grandfather, Frank Quinn, who, at eight years previous, ran 50 miles throughout the desert to flee an Indian boarding college. The documentary thoughtfully explores the interwoven nature of Ku and Frank’s experiences by means of years of footage and archival materials.
Bethmann and Khoury used Adobe Inventive Cloud to inform this story, together with Premiere Professional, Photoshop, After Results, Body.io, and extra. Productions in Premiere Professional particularly helped them collaborate seamlessly through the largely distant post-production course of: “For options or any initiatives with a considerable amount of media, Productions permits you the area to interrupt it down into smaller chunks,” mentioned Khoury. “Jess Epstein, our producer, and Beth Kearsley, our Affiliate editor, may very well be engaged on archival, Paige may very well be reviewing a scene meeting, and I may very well be navigating the completely different folders and accessing my selects whereas assembling an act.”
Learn on for extra Premiere Professional suggestions from Bethmann and Khoury and a behind-the-scenes have a look at the making of Remaining Native.
Paige, how and the place did you get into directing?
Paige Bethmann: I’ve at all times cherished movie, and in highschool, I’d usually attempt to get out of writing essays by proposing video initiatives as an alternative. After I graduated, I went to Ithaca School (the place I met Steph!), however I studied Movie and Tv. I assumed I needed to be a stay studio director. I did quite a lot of work on the published facet, after which after I moved to NYC, I used to be producing quite a lot of short-form non-fiction content material for Vox Media. I fell in love with documentary and non-fiction primarily based work and was actually impressed to attach with an actual story to tackle myself.
Steph, how and the place did you first study to edit?
Steph Khoury: In highschool, my superior artwork class was canceled, and I used to be positioned in video manufacturing to fill my schedule. On the time, I used to be a scholar athlete, so I began to movie competitions and edit spotlight reels. I loved the enhancing course of and pursued Documentary Research and Manufacturing at Ithaca School (the place I met Paige!). We had been constantly making movies all through faculty, and every time I used to be drawn again to enhancing. I cherished spending time within the enhancing suites reviewing materials, discovering patterns, and seeing the story take form.
The place had been you once you discovered you bought into SXSW? How did you’re feeling?
Khoury: I used to be engaged on one other edit when Paige instructed me the information. I used to be actually excited, and it felt surreal after engaged on the venture for practically two years to get the information that we made it and had been screening at SXSW. I had been to SXSW in 2018 for the premiere of Loss of life Steel Grandma, and knew this competition was the right match.
Bethmann: Our producer, Jess Epstein, picked me as much as drive to our sound combine in Brooklyn, and as we had been driving, I noticed the e-mail and instantly screamed. I felt an enormous sense of reduction realizing that I’d have the ability to have an amazing launching pad to share Ku and his household’s story. Additionally, realizing that Austin has such a big working neighborhood was thrilling to consider methods we are able to plan activations across the movie. We ended up internet hosting a 5K run in partnership with Nike to deliver native runners and Indigenous neighborhood members collectively to have a good time our World Premiere and join with the story on a bodily stage!
How do you start a venture/arrange your workspace?
Khoury: Earlier than every venture, whether or not it’s a function or a brief, I often describe my workflow as “serving to my future self.” First step is conversations with the staff to get some understanding of the principle characters, scenes, areas, atmosphere, archival, or occasions, so we are able to successfully start sorting materials out in applicable methods. This turns into a basis to develop a shorthand with the fabric, scenes, and themes throughout the venture. Throughout this time, it’s actually necessary to know simply sufficient info to assist manage, however not main particulars, so the story can unfold by means of the screening course of with none added views. The technical organizational work up entrance permits creativity to thrive throughout the edit, since you’re not spending 10 minutes looking for that one second you want.
Inform us a couple of favourite scene or second from this venture and why it stands out to you.
Paige, Steph and Affiliate Editor, Beth Kearsley.
Picture Supply: Steph Khoury.
Bethmann: My favourite moments have been the time we received to spend collectively in particular person. Steph and our producer Jess got here to Reno to edit and in addition participated within the Remembrance Run in 2023. To have the ability to share that have with them and infuse it into our means of enhancing felt so good. They had been capable of meet all of Ku’s household and run on the land through which the story is instructed.
Khoury: Engaged on Arcadia was most likely one among my favourite scenes to edit, due to the vitality of the occasion, but in addition due to the evolution of the scene. We had a number of iterations of it, and for a very long time, Ku’s voice was interwoven by means of the race. It was the most important race and an necessary scene, but it surely wasn’t hitting the way in which we’d hoped it will. Throughout an in-person edit, we began to query if together with the interview was the suitable choice. We determined to edit with out the interview, and the ultimate model turned an exquisite end result of the poetic model we had constructed throughout the movie over quite a few cuts. It was such an thrilling breakthrough to unravel as a staff.
What had been some particular post-production challenges you confronted that had been distinctive to your venture? How did you go about fixing them?
Bethmann and Khoury: The legacy of Indian Boarding colleges and Ku’s great-grandfather’s story is sort of heavy and painful. We had been capable of get entry to lots of of images from The Stewart Indian College’s archive. We spent quite a lot of time going by means of the images, which confirmed the method of assimilation with youngsters who had been taken away from their households, was extraordinarily heartbreaking. We knew we needed to have the ability to share the historical past with out having to stroll the viewers by means of a historic timeline, however we weren’t fairly positive on methods to obtain this. Throughout an in-person edit, we found a portion of the interview the place Ku mentioned, “Think about you’re 8.” We thought it was a robust motif to ask viewers to think about themselves as these youngsters whereas navigating their experiences with care and sensitivity. It was necessary to share the reality concerning the abuse whereas additionally giving area to attach with the kids and their humanity. Gaze turned an necessary consider our conversations, the place we targeted on the expressions, but in addition tried to make use of the imagery so it may very well be seen from the angle of a kid.
What Adobe instruments did you employ on this venture, and why did you initially select them?
Bethmann: We used Premiere Productions, After Results, InDesign, Photoshop, and Body.io. We knew we needed to make use of Adobe Inventive Cloud as a result of all of our collaborators had been so acquainted with the software program. Most of our edit was completed remotely, and it was very easy to share issues with each other and work collectively, staying throughout the Adobe universe. Body.io was an enormous a part of our ending course of workflow for shade and blend. Speaking with my colorist and sound designer was seamless, to right away determine the place consideration wanted to be drawn to.
Khoury: Once I got here onto the venture, that they had began to prep dailies onto string outs in Premiere Productions. If we weren’t in Productions, I’d have prompt it due to the flexibility of this system. For options or any initiatives with a considerable amount of media, Productions permits you the area to interrupt it down into smaller chunks. So Jess, our producer, and Beth, our Affiliate Editor, may very well be engaged on archival, Paige may very well be reviewing a scene meeting, and I may very well be navigating the completely different folders and accessing my selects whereas assembling an act. Productions was additionally unbelievable when it comes to archiving completely different variations of cuts, acts, and scenes that we might simply refer again to.
In case you might share one tip about Premiere Professional, what would it not be?
Bethmann: I discovered all my Premiere Professional suggestions from Steph. She actually helped me perceive group and searchability. My tip can be to arrange your venture and create a marker system in order that every thing you want will be searchable.
Khoury: Including onto Paige’s tip, studying keyboard shortcuts exponentially sped up the speed at which I used to be enhancing after I was beginning out. There are such a lot of sources on the market to study them, however you may also use the keyboard shortcuts window to seek for a command and create a novel keyboard setting, like syncing audio. Over time, I’ve developed my very own set of shortcuts for various levels of the enhancing course of, equivalent to one for logging materials through the screening course of. Premiere Professional means that you can export your keyboard settings and import them if you’re engaged on a special pc. Similar goes for workspace layouts! If I’m working from a special edit bay, I at all times deliver these settings with me.
Who’s your artistic inspiration and why?
Khoury: I grew up documenting life by means of my drawings, however turned fascinated with folks and tradition by means of my multicultural household. As a daughter of immigrants with members of the family from all around the world, I cherished studying from my aunts’ and uncles’ recipes, tales, and cultural nuances at holidays or household occasions. My artwork follow allowed me to see that there’s multiple approach to have interaction with the world. I’m particularly influenced by impressionist artwork, as a result of it jogs my memory that visuals are like brush strokes, the place with every lower, there’s a pacing or rhythm choice that shapes the story being instructed.
Bethmann: My grandmother was a conventional Mohawk storyteller, and as somewhat lady, I’d take heed to her share tales about Sky Lady and the way maple syrup was made. I used to be at all times in awe of her skill to recall each element from reminiscence. She would usually inform me that our tales didn’t come from books however had been handed down from the land and our ancestors. I’ve at all times been impressed by her and have approached my work with the identical vitality she carried on the subject of storytelling by attending to know all the small print and connecting to put.
What’s the hardest factor you’ve needed to face in your profession, and the way did you overcome it? What recommendation do you could have for aspiring filmmakers or content material creators?
Bethmann: “Remaining Native” was my first unbiased function movie, and whereas I used to be grateful to have a lot help from people who believed in Ku’s story, generally it received actually exhausting to quiet the noise. Individuals come to your work with their very own relationships to the story, expectations, concepts, and experiences, and as a lot as you need to settle for the assistance from others, it’s important to bear in mind the unique the explanation why you needed to create your work within the first place. Staying true to your coronary heart and imaginative and prescient might be the toughest factor to do when navigating an business that places quite a lot of stress on younger artists, however if you happen to return to what grounds you within the work, you’ll have the ability to say and really feel that you simply did every thing you possibly can to struggle for the imaginative and prescient you had.
Khoury: Be open to alternatives the place you’ll be able to lean into creativity and lower as a lot as doable. The consistency through which I used to be enhancing early on was actually formative in creating my workflow in addition to honing my storytelling skills. I’m lucky to have labored with Julie Winokur and Reiley Wooten, who inspired experimentation and having enjoyable. The enhancing course of will be demanding at occasions, comes with quite a lot of ups and downs, however be form to your self within the course of. It’s so stunning once you get to step again and see what you’ve created. It doesn’t must be an award-winning movie – so long as you are creating, it’s artwork.
What’s your favourite factor about your workspace and why?
Picture Supply: Paige Bethmann.
Bethmann: It is a photograph from when Steph got here out to edit at my residence in Reno, Nevada. I really like my workspace as a result of usually my cat, Disco, will are available in to oversee.
Picture Supply: Steph Khoury.
Khoury: I primarily work remotely, so two displays and the big desk present me loads of area for me to take notes on my notepad, laptop computer, or iPad. Typically, I’ll additionally use my iPad as a 3rd monitor with Slack to speak with staff members. I really like having a window to the facet so I can get some solar within the morning earlier than having to shut the blinds within the afternoon. My favourite half is how colourful the area is. Once I’m not enhancing, I pull out my sketchpad and sustain with my artwork follow.
