Interview: Editor Yvette M. Amirian on Creating a New Christmas Classic With ‘EXmas’

No matter your relationship with Christmas, you likely have a favorite Christmas movie. For the acclaimed editor Yvette M. Amirian, Home Alone stands out as a personal favorite.

“I’ve been able to revisit [it] recently with my own kids, which has been so special,” says Amirian.

But what is particularly special about a career in film and television is the opportunity to create new classics for a new generation.

So when someone recently told Amirian that EXMas – the latest project in a career that has included such award-nominated hits as Whale Wars and L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later -would one day become a stranger’s favorite Christmas film, she was overcome with both gratitude and nostalgia. She arrived at the project via her close friendship with director Jonah Feingold, and was immediately struck by the authenticity of the relationship at its core.

“Jonah also reference [Home Alone] a lot in his director’s deck for the film, so hopefully the aesthetic references and wacky family dynamics we portrayed in EXMas resonate for fellow fans when they watch it.”

Amirian is also celebrating the success of It Takes a Village, the acclaimed short film from fellow Armenian-American Ophelia Harutyunyan. Amirian edited the short, which recently won “Best International Film” at the LA Shorts and is eligible for Best Live Action Short Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Read my full interview with Yvette M. Amirian below to hear more about EXMas, It Takes a Village, and Amirian’s background in education at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Tell us a little bit about ExMas. What drew you to the project?

I knew Jonah Feingold, the director, as a friend. But we had been searching for the right project to collaborate on. When he sent me the script for EXmas which was written by Dan Steele, I was immediately taken with the premise, but more so with this couple. Graham and Ali are in a difficult place in their relationship and trying to work through the intricacies of what happens after a breakup, how to maintain family relationships, and how to heal and eventually reconcile. It felt so real and authentic to me, and I was excited to be a part of it. 

What is your personal relationship with holiday films? Do you have a favorite?

Someone said to me recently — one day, you’ll hear from a stranger that EXmas was their favorite holiday movie growing up. That struck me, because I certainly had my favorites growing up that still feel very nostalgic to me. I think Home Alone is probably an obvious favorite and one I’ve been able to revisit recently with my own kids, which has been so special. Jonah also referenced it a lot in his director’s deck for the film, so hopefully the aesthetic references and wacky family dynamics we portrayed in EXmas resonate for fellow fans when they watch it. 

What were the challenges with editing the improvised sequences in ExMas?

The improvised scenes were challenging, but so much fun. I think an obvious challenge with any improv is that those sparks of genius will usually only happen once and there’s often no reaction from the opposing actor to play off of. So you’re building these beats and moments from scratch and crafting them to feel like they were meant to happen that way organically. There was also a lot of coverage to deal with in a very short amount of time, so I had to be super organized and methodical in how I approached my dailies every day. Thankfully my amazing assistant Julia Solá helped me accomplish that, and being able to communicate with Jonah very openly and honestly from day one made the whole process much more seamless and efficient. 

Ophelia Harutyunyan’s It Takes a Village deals beautifully with the harsh realities of the female experience in Armenia. As an Armenian-American woman, what did it mean for you to edit this powerful story together?

To be honest, it was the exact project I had been seeking when it came my way. I had been eager to work on Armenian stories and with Armenian filmmakers, and to tell stories about motherhood and women. So it was like one check mark after the other and I’m so grateful Ophelia brought it to me. Armenians in general are so underrepresented in film, and when we are, it’s often at the hands of creators who don’t truly understand the culture, and frequently results in misrepresentation. So to be a part of accurately portraying even just this one piece of our story was incredibly special to me and I’m so proud to have been a part of it. 

What has the experience been like seeing It Takes a Village receive recognition across various festivals and awards ceremonies?

It’s been amazing, and I credit writer/director Ophelia Harutyunyan and our producers for the amazing work they’ve done in the festival circuit. The best part has been hearing from non-Armenians all over the world how much the film resonates and how universal it feels, especially for women. The story is very much about Armenian women, but it’s also about the resilience of women in general and how frequently we need to rely on one another to push past our challenges and grow. 

How does editing scripted works like ExMas and It Takes a Village differ from some of your background in unscripted and documentary filmmaking?

It Takes a Village has gotten a common response from many audiences — “is this documentary or scripted?” And I think that’s a testament to Ophelia’s documentary background, as well as mine. We wanted it to feel very organic up to a point, and we took it as a huge compliment that many audiences were actually confused by that blurred line. My experience in docs helped me infuse the film with that aesthetic, and it was amazing to play with a slower pace. 

On the other hand, EXmas was incredibly fast-paced overall, but where my doc experience came in handy was in crafting those improvised moments. In fact, that process felt very reminiscent of my unscripted work where I would be crafting an entire story beat from multiple pieces of footage, performance, reactions, etc. So my unscripted experience has been immensely beneficial in transferring over to my scripted work. It has given me a unique skillset to pull from when faced with these kinds of challenging circumstances. 

How has your educational career informed your work as an editor? And vice versa?

I love teaching so much. I love the mentorship I get to provide my students, I love that it keeps me looped in to the ever-changing technologies involved in editing. But what I didn’t anticipate when I started teaching was that it would make me a better editor. 

When you’re cutting, you’re doing it without thinking — it’s an extension of you. To have to stop and think of how to explain each step to a new student, whether the technical steps or the aesthetic choices, you force yourself to study your own decisions. You grow from that significantly, and as my career has grown in the past decade or so since I’ve been teaching, that’s allowed me to give back to my students in a stronger way. That might come from the teaching tools I can showcase for them through my own work, or the guest speakers I bring in, or the personal experiences and challenges I can share that they can hopefully learn from. 

To say those two parts of my life are constantly informing each other is an understatement, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to teach and also learn from my students.

EXMas is streaming now on Freevee (available for free via Amazon Prime).