Seized, from director/producer Sharon Liese, made its world premiere at Sundance. The documentary is set in the small town of Marion, KS, which is thrust into the international spotlight after a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner. A fierce debate ignites about abuse of power, journalistic ethics, local journalism and the United States Constitution.
Derek Boonstra edited the project and says Sharon Liese reached out to him in early 2025.
"I knew right away that it was going to be a special film," says Boonstra. " I had read the news about the raid on the Marion County Record in 2023, so I was already familiar with the basic events and knew that the subject matter would be topical and meaningful for this moment in our culture. But then when I started to get familiar with the footage, which was of a very high-quality - and quantity - I quickly realized that the ceiling was very high for what this film could become."
The project had its challenges, and Boonstra says the team hammered away throughout 2025.
"All of our editorial meetings took place virtually throughout the process, and I didn't meet Sharon or (producer) Paul (Matyasovsky) in person until just a few weeks before Sundance, when it was time to do the final color sessions. But it was a really great collaboration and we're all very excited to be premiering in Park City."
Boonstra says his workflow was fairly streamlined and simple. He cut in Adobe Premiere Pro using a local hard drive wired directly into his home office computer.
"I'd post cuts for the team to watch and then we'd get on Zoom and talk about them, and figure out what came next," he shares. "Lather, rinse, repeat. Everyone was good at listening to each other and flexible about their ideas."
He points to a scene at the very beginning of our film as one of its highlights.
"(It's) just a beautiful shot of some buffalo with a song called 'Newspapermen' playing underneath while some production credits roll," he explains. "That came about because Sharon sent me a powerful song to try at the end of the movie - a minor-key rendition of America the Beautiful. It was a very interesting and potent idea, but when I implemented it, it felt like it was an overwhelming tone for the end of the movie, so I tried it out at the beginning of the film instead and attached it to the buffalo shot. That also was interesting to everyone, but we had a test screening and realized that it still needed to evolve, and so Paul suggested the song that ended up sticking. What started as one song at the end of the film became a totally different song with a different tone at the beginning of the film. That's just one of many examples of how the hive mind was able to operate on this project, which is a credit to Sharon for creating a space in which everyone felt safe to contribute ideas while we pursued her initial, strong vision."