Tony Hale is an Emmy-winning documentary editor based in Brooklyn, NY.
Motivated as much by a love for the craft as he is by the works’ themes, stories, and missions, Tony is passionate about the transformative power of editing and how it can enable cinema to champion untold and under-told stories. He considers non-fiction editing fundamentally an exercise in deep listening and context building.
As a kid, Tony first discovered a joy for digital editing while making music with friends. Some years later, while studying Mathematics at Boston College and working at a Harvard University media lab, he rediscovered his passion for editing in the medium of film and video. In 2005, he began his freelance editing career, working on short nonfiction pieces until ultimately embarking on his first feature-length documentary, A Will for the Woods (2013), for which he was co-director and editor. The film went on to win nine awards (including two at Full Frame) and air nationally on PBS.
Recently, Tony won the national Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Writing on The Story of Plastic (Discovery), for which he was also the editor, and the Jackson Wild Media award for editing on YOUTH v GOV (Netflix). His other feature editing work includes: Charged (Hulu), Do the Math (Al-Jazeera America), Afghan Cycles, and The Lake at the Bottom of the World. Cumulatively, his films have been honored with over 50 festival awards, as well as nominations for the Griersons, Environmental Media Awards, and more. In 2022, Tony was also included in DOC NYC’s annual 40 Under 40 list.
Highlights of Tony's short film work include Dangerous Curves (New York Times Op-Docs); Miami Underwater (The New Yorker); Dead Sea Scrolls (Emmy-winning special, WNBC); an abstract short by Lulu Wang (MoMA / Strand Releasing); the scripted film Meena (directed by Lucy Liu, based on the book Half the Sky); and multiple other short docs. He has also worked on dozens of videos for non-profits and national campaigns, including The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 350.org, The Committee to Protect Journalists, and more.
Beyond principal editing, Tony has also created impact materials for films, served as a consulting editor, mentored filmmakers, and participated in panels at festivals.
His upcoming features premiering in 2023 are Israelism, Ivan Doig: Landscapes of a Western Mind (PBS), and Goliath Is Wobbling.
For more on Tony’s work, see www.tonyfilm.com
Contact: tony [at] tonyfilm [dot] com