Sakae Ishikawa is a director / producer who started in the film business by editing documentaries and commercial. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she began her career as a staff assistant editor at Maysles Films Inc., working with highly esteemed editors such as Deborah Dickson, Charlotte Zwerin, Bob Eisenhardt and Bruce Sinofsky. In 1994, she left Maysles to be the first assistant on a feature, Todd Haynes’ highly acclaimed independent film, “Safe.”
Realizing her love for the unscripted documentary, Ishikawa went on to become an associate editor for “Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse”, a 1997 Academy Award Nominee. In 1998, she moved to Istanbul, Turkey where she worked on an eight part documentary series about a modern day Turkish caravan retracing the Silk Road. It was there that she developed a love for Turkish people and culture. Upon her return, she edited “The Education of Gore Vidal”, an entry in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, which was directed by Deborah Dickson. She also worked at New York Times Television on several shows including “Raising the Flag”, which looked at the history of U.S. military occupations around the world and “Battle Plan Under Fire” which looked at the military’s new strategies post-September 11.
In 2007, she edited “Witnesses to a Secret War”, which looks at the plight of the Hmong, an agrarian hill tribe from Laos and their clandestine involvement with the CIA during the Vietnam War. It aired on PBS’ Global Voices series in 2009. In 2008, she edited “Still Bill”, a feature length documentary on Bill Withers, the singer-songwriter which premiered at SWSW 09 and played at Silver Docs. She also worked on “Quest for Honor”, a film about honor killings in Iraqi Kurdistan which premiered at Sundance ’09.
Sakae Ishikawa is currently editing “The Canal Street Madam” with director Cameron Yates. a feature length profile of Jeanette Maier, the Canal Street Madam of New Orleans who was arrested in a high profile FBI bust for running a brothel in collaboration with her mother and daughter. Shot over five years, this verité film chronicles Jeanette and her family after her release from prison in 2004 up until her 50th birthday. Ishikawa is also a contributing editor to the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast series.