The Creative Flow of Documentary Film Editing: Challenging Final Cut for “Forgotten Voices”
May 1, 2025
Today marks the end of an extraordinary period of documentary film editing, as I complete the latest cut of Forgotten Voices: The Third Reich’s Elite Schools. In just a few days, on 7 May, we’ll be sharing this work at a special preview screening in Potsdam, Germany.
It’s hard to believe how far this project has come and how much creative energy and focus these past two weeks have demanded.
This film has brought some of the most challenging and fascinating experiences of my career. It’s the first time I’ve worked on documentary film editing in a foreign language, navigating hours of German interviews, archival footage, and atmospheric shots filmed across Germany. The language barrier added a new level of detail and complexity to the edit, where every word and inflection had to be carefully interpreted for meaning and emotional nuance.
Fortunately, I’ve not been alone in this process. Over these past two weeks, I’ve been working side by side with historian Dr Helen Roche. Helen’s depth of knowledge and passion for the subject have been invaluable in shaping the narrative. Her research into the Napola schools—elite boarding institutions created under the Third Reich to train future Nazi leaders—sparked the original idea for this documentary and has guided our work throughout.
Our journey with Forgotten Voices stretches back several years. The film’s beginnings lie in Helen’s book on the Napola system. From there, the project has grown through several phases of filming across Germany:
- In 2022, we began capturing interviews and location shots. Helen couldn’t join us at that stage due to her pregnancy, so I travelled with our collaborator Dominik Mitterer, who stepped in as interviewer and assistant.
- In 2023, Helen was able to travel again, accompanied by her partner and son. Together, we filmed additional interviews and evocative scenes around former Napola sites, adding essential depth to the narrative.
- In 2024, we gathered further material that helped strengthen the story’s emotional and historical threads, capturing more footage of Napola buildings and conducting an interview with another former student, now in his 90s, whose memories brought fresh perspective and poignancy to the film.
Editing this material has been deeply moving. There’s a particular weight to working on a story that delves into such a dark period of history. The empty corridors of former Napola buildings, stark archival documents, and the quiet reflections in the eyes of former pupils all contribute to a haunting but powerful narrative. Yet amid the darkness, there’s also a profound sense of purpose—knowing we’re helping bring forward testimonies and perspectives that might otherwise remain hidden.
One of the biggest creative challenges in this edit has been balancing historical information with personal storytelling. We’ve worked hard to ensure that viewers understand the wider significance of the Napola schools while also connecting with the very human stories at their core. Helen and I have spent countless hours debating structure, pacing, and the emotional arc of the film so it resonates on multiple levels.
As I hit “save” on the final timeline today, I felt a mix of relief, pride, and anticipation. There’s still more work to come after the Potsdam screening. We see this preview as a vital opportunity to gather feedback before completing the full-length version. But for now, finishing this cut feels like a major milestone.
Moments like this remind me why I’m so passionate about documentary film editing. Despite the long hours and the intense subject matter, there’s nothing quite like the creative flow that comes from transforming raw footage into a story that could change how people see the world.
If you’d like to watch more of my work exploring community stories, creative resilience, and diverse subjects across arts, heritage, and the environment, you can explore all my films here: https://alanfentiman.co.uk/films-by-alan-fentiman/