Nels Bangerter is an award-winning documentary film editor known for finding original and effective approaches to form and structure. His widely-acclaimed work includes CAMERAPERSON, the through-the-viewfinder memoir of documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson; 32 SOUNDS, a film and live-performance documentary exploration of sonic experience; LET THE FIRE BURN, an all-archival examination of the police bombing of MOVE in Philadelphia; DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD, a hybrid docu-comedy about loss and memory; THE HOTTEST AUGUST, an essayistic survey of New Yorkers coping with the uncertain future; and RIOTSVILLE, U.S.A., an archival interrogation of the state’s reaction to the uprisings of the late 1960s. Nels has won four International Documentary Association Awards and two Cinema Eye Awards for Outstanding Editing (with two additional nominations); and has been nominated twice for News and Documentary editing Emmys and once for an ACE Eddie. He was named a film craft “Influencer” by Indiewire magazine, and is a member the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Nels has been an advisor at the Sundance Labs and has shared his experience on panels at Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Full Frame, Camden, and True/False Film Festivals. He has mentored projects for SFFILM, Firelight Media, True/False-Catapult Film Fund, ESPN/Tribeca Film Institute, BAVC, and Film Independent, and has given presentations for the Sundance Documentary Film Program and at conferences for the IDA and True/False. Nels was also the editor of the short fiction film BUZKASHI BOYS, which was produced and edited in Kabul, Afghanistan and nominated for an Academy Award.

Based in Oakland, California, Nels holds an MFA in film production from USC. Before becoming an editor, he worked in a gold mine, lived in a redwood tree, and earned degrees in English and electrical engineering from Rice University. He has two terrific kids, ages seven and eleven.