David Cohen is a filmmaker & editor whose work has screened at Sundance, Venice, Tribeca, SXSW, Hot Docs, New Directors/New Films, DOC NYC, Outfest, Frameline and more. As an editor, his films have won numerous awards and received Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Documentary and Outstanding Picture Editing.
As a director and producer, David’s projects have received support from ITVS, the MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Just Films | Ford Foundation, Impact Partners, and The Fledgling Fund. His work has been published by The New York Times
(Op-Docs), The Nation, Out.com and is on permanent exhibition at The Bob Dylan Center.
David co-directed, co-wrote & edited the critically acclaimed feature documentary, LOVE & STUFF
with Peabody Award winning filmmaker Judith Helfand. Called “an emotionally fecund, funny and deeply resonant work” by The Hollywood Reporter, the film was broadcast on POV/PBS following its international film festival run.
Recent editing credits include the 2x Primetime Emmy-nominated PRETTY BABY: BROOKE SHIELDS
(Sundance, ABC/Hulu), winner of Cinema Eye Honors’ Outstanding Broadcast Editing Award, Directed by Lana Wilson; the 2x Primetime Emmy-nominated LOVE, GILDA
(Tribeca Opening Night, CNN Films/Magnolia Pictures); the SXSW Jury Award winning CHRISTOPHER AT SEA
(Venice, Sundance, BAFTA Shortlist); Emmy winner Abigail Disney’s THE AMERICAN DREAM AND OTHER FAIRY TALES
(Sundance, Story Producer & Editor) and the New York Times Critic's Pick COOKED: SURVIVAL BY ZIPCODE
(PBS/Independent Lens, Co-Producer & Editor), Directed by Judith Helfand.
David is currently directing a non fiction feature, is in development on his first fiction feature and serves as an Editor and/or Co-Producer on four forthcoming feature documentaries in 2026.
He has taught guest/master classes at Columbia University, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of California - Santa Cruz and has served as a mentor to undergraduates at NYU/Tisch. David was Adjunct Faculty in the Documentary Program at CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism where he also advised capstone project films.
David served on the Steering Committee and as Director of Operations of The Creative Resistance, which produces high impact, doc-style campaign ads for GOTV efforts, winning progressive races, both in New York and beyond.
He has attended the Sundance Documentary Edit & Story Labs, the Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs, the BAVC/Tribeca (TFI) Producer’s Institute and The Barrow Group. He received his B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.