Joi McMillon facts for kids

Editor, Joi McMillon

Joi McMillon is a talented American film editor. A film editor is like a storyteller who uses movie clips. They take all the recorded scenes and put them together in the right order. This makes the movie flow smoothly and helps the audience understand the story and feel the emotions.

Joi McMillon is famous for her work on the movies Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). Both of these films won many awards.

Joi McMillon's Journey in Film

Joi McMillon first thought about becoming a journalist. But then, she went on a high school trip to Universal Studios. There, she learned about film editing and was really inspired! This trip made her want to go to film school. She studied at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts and finished her studies in 2003.

Her first job on a film team was as a night assistant editor for a TV show called The Surreal Life. She helped put together a short preview for another show called Beauty and the Geek. This was her first time cutting movie clips together.

McMillon and director Barry Jenkins, who she worked with on Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Underground Railroad

In 2017, Joi McMillon was nominated for a very important award: an Academy Award for Best Film Editing. She shared this nomination with another editor, Nat Sanders. This was a big moment because she was the first Black woman ever to be nominated for an Oscar in film editing!

The director Barry Jenkins, who worked with her on Moonlight, said he was very proud of her work. He said that many people in the film academy also respected her amazing editing skills. Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders also won the Best Film Editing award for Moonlight at the 2017 Spirit Awards.

Since then, Joi McMillon has edited many other movies and even a TV series. In 2018, she worked with Nat Sanders again on If Beale Street Could Talk. In 2020, she edited the movie Zola with filmmaker Janicza Bravo. Zola later won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing in 2022. In 2021, Joi was in charge of the editing team for The Underground Railroad. This was a short TV series for Amazon Studios, based on a famous book.

Movies Joi McMillon Edited

Here are some of the films and TV shows Joi McMillon has edited:

• Blue Boy (Short film, 2009)
• Shades of Gray (Short film, 2009)
• Shoot the Moon (Short film, 2009)
• Chlorophyl (Short film, 2011)
• The Other Side of Silence (Documentary, 2012)
• The Radio Gamers (Short film, 2013)
• Off-Season (Short film, 2013)
• SMILF (Short film, 2015)
• Anne & Jake (TV series) (7 episodes, 2015)
• Girls (TV series) (1 episode, 2016)
• Man Rots from the Head (Short film, 2016)
• Moonlight (2016)
• Lemon (2017)
• Hum (Short film) (2017)
• American Woman (2018)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
• Zola (2020)
• The Underground Railroad (TV series) (2021)
• Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)

Awards and Nominations

Joi McMillon has received many awards and nominations for her amazing editing work. Here are some of the most important ones, especially for her work on Moonlight:

See also

• List of film director and editor collaborations