A Navajo boy from San Diego experiences a cultural awakening when he spends summer vacation with his precocious cousin and their relatives on the rez.

Directed by Billy Luther

Edited by Fred Koschmann

Produced by Chad Burris

Exec. Produced by Taika Waititi

Premiered at SXSW 2023

International premiere at TIFF 2023

Streaming on Netflix

Despite his status as a world-traveling academic, nobody in my family could say what my dad did for work. The Interaction Cowboy is “a dad doc,” a personal exploration and a documentary of ideas.

Directed and Edited by Fred Koschmann

Premiered at the Helsinki Education Film Festival International, Nov. 2023

Stream it here on PBS

From the producers of The Last Dance, the astonishing true story of Rulon Gardner, a dairy farmer from Wyoming who shocked the world at the Sydney Olympics, overcoming 2000 to 1 odds by defeating a Russian wrestler who hadn't lost a single match in 13 years. Featuring Bob Costas, Katie Couric, and others.

Directed by Adam Irving

Edited by Fred Koschmann and Adam Irving

AmDocs Film Festival 2020

Premiered in 2021 on NBC Sports

Watch the full film on the Olympic Channel here.

Documentary about film director and editor Hal Ashby, director of films Harold and Maude, Being There, Coming Home and The Last Detail, among others. The film charts his path from his start as an editor to his role as beloved and original director to his eventual sparring with studios and being cast as an outsider to the Hollywood system. Interviews with Judd Apatow, David O. Russell, Jane Fonda, Jon Voigt, Alison Anders, Rossana Arquette, Jeff Bridges and more. 

Additional Editor

Directed by Amy Scott

Sundance 2018, Full Frame

Rent the film on Amazon here.

This documentary about the life of Ben Fong-Torres, a senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine nearly from its inception, is an epic sweep through the world of rock and roll. Featuring Elton John, Cameron Crowe, Annie Leibovitz, Bob Weir, Santana, Quincy Jones, and more.

Directed by Suzanne Joe-Kai

Additional Editing by Fred Koschmann

Watch the full film on Netflix here.

A devout Evangelical Christian faces a crisis of faith after a sudden and unexpected tragedy. Starring Brian Gerraghty (Hurt Locker), Nora-Jane Noone (Brooklyn), Iddo Goldberg (Peaky Blinders), and Thomas Francis Murphy (The Walking Dead).

Directed by Eli Daughdrill

Edited by Fred Koschmann

Produced by Mike S. Ryan, Todd Remis, Stephen Bailey, and Sharri Hefner

Indie Memphis 2019

Watch the film on Amazon Prime here.

A follow-up to the documentary Kiss the Ground, Common Ground further explores how regenerative agriculture can help heal the soil, our health and the planet. It features Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, Gabe Brown, and more.

Directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell

Additional Editing by Fred Koschmann

Tribeca 2023

Screening at select theaters now. Check commongroundfilm.org for details.

Interweaving the stories of US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, his adopted Chinese daughter, Gracie Mei, and blind activist Chen Guangcheng, Vanessa Hope's documentary is a timely exploration of the complex links between the US and China. It follows the Huntsman family during his tenure as ambassador and traces Chen's journey from house arrest to his highly publicized asylum at the US Embassy.

Associate Editor

Directed by Vanessa Hope

Produced by Vanessa Hope, Ted Hope, Geralyn White Dreyfous 

Tribeca Film Festival, Karlovy Vary FF, Seattle IFF, Mill Valley FF

Forty years after the release of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ the best-selling album of all-time, director Nelson George takes fans back in time to the making of a pop masterpiece. Featuring interviews with Usher, Mary J. Blige, Will.i.am, Brooke Shields, Misty Copeland, John Landis, and more.

Co-Edited by Fred Koschmann

Directed by Nelson George

Streaming on Showtime/Paramount+

Ebertfest looks at the work of Roger Ebert (as opposed to his life, which was excellently portrayed in Steve James' Life Itself) and what he means to film. The festival that he created in his hometown of Champaign, IL, as well as the theater where he grew up watching movies, provide the perfect setting to explore his work. Interviews with Tilda Swinton, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Werner Herzog, Richard Linklater, Chaz Ebert and more.

Edited by Fred Koschmann

Directed by Luke Boyce, Nathaniel Kohn

Produced by Brett Hayes, Luke Boyce, Nathaniel Kohn, Jen Shelby, Fred Koschmann

Not yet released

Leading United States legal expert on China, and the first American lawyer there, Jerome Alan Cohen, tells the tale of rescuing his college classmate, Jack Downey, from 'behind enemy lines' after Downey's CIA mission to infiltrate communist China went awry in the 1950s.

Jerome Cohen died in Sept. 2025. More can be read about his life on the Council on Foreign Relations site here, and the short documentary can be seen below.

Edited by Fred Koschmann

Directed by Vanessa Hope

Produced by Vanessa Hope, Ted Hope

DOC NYC, Palm Springs ShortFest

Bunker77 is a documentary about Bunker Spreckels, a wild-man surfer from the late 60s and 70s (and Clark Gable's stepson) who died at age 27 in 1977. It features interviews with Tony Alva, Laird Hamilton, Kenneth Anger, Johnny Knoxville and others.

Additional Editor

Directed by Takuji Masuda

Produced by Craig Stecyk, Stephen Gaghan, Anthony Kiedis

DOC NYC, Hamptons FF, Winner - Sun Valley FF

Watch the film on Vimeo here.

Purchase the limited-edition DVD/Blu-ray here.

A troubled married couple hope that sailing across the open ocean might bring back the spark that's been lost between them. But their relationship is brought to the breaking point when one refuses to explore a mysterious deserted island.

Starring Ed Harris, Terrence Martin, Dominique Braun, and Martina Gusman

Additional Editor

Directed by Terrence Martin and Dominique Braun

Rent the film on Amazon here.

Blue Sky Metropolis is the untold story of how aerospace was central to the growth of California and its emergence as an economic power. The documentary miniseries focuses on the people behind the aerospace movement, including major figures in the aerospace industry in California.

Additional Editor

Directed by Peter Jones

Released by PBS

A short documentary about a small experimental college in the remote desert in central California.

Directed and Edited by Fred Koschmann

Backyard Film Fest 2011

Music video, a visual exploration of themes found in Chicago artist Judson Claiborne's music, with footage shot in rural and urban settings in Illinois and archival footage of explorers in Alaska. The video can be seen below or the link here.

Directed and Edited by Fred Koschmann

Music by Judson Claiborne

Backyard Film Fest 

Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present is a non-fiction film examining the pioneering life and works of filmmaker, musician, artist and educator, Tony Conrad. One of the great American artists of his time, yet to the world at large he remains under appreciated. 

Additional Animation

Directed by Tyler Hubby

Viennale IFF, Rotterdam IFF, DOC NYC

Watch the film on Tubi here.

After graduating from the University of Illinois in Champaign, I moved to New York City where I worked for magazines, including New York Magazine and Popular Science as a video producer for PopSci. Among the videos I edited were “Power Tool Drag Racing” and “Teen Builds Nuclear Reactor,” which are still available on YouTube and can be seen below.