Cookie Estés is a detail-driven filmmaker + video editor with roots in Chicago. Since graduating from DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts in 2020, Cookie has been editing music videos, reviewing films at international festivals, and managing a non-profit comedy club on the weekends. 

As an editor + camera operator at Audiotree Studios, Cookie primarily tackles post-production for live studio sessions and concerts – from the multi-camera edit to color correction or motion graphics, Cookie is an editorial multitool with a sense for rhythm and timing. In just two years there, they’ve edited over 150 sessions that have amassed three million views (and counting!) across social platforms. They have also honed the unique skill of technical directing + real-time editing live-streamed events from the wings of the Wintrust Arena to backstage at the House of Blues. 

Cookie’s directorial debut, Split Ends, is based on their multigenerational Cuban-American upbringing and serves as a commentary on Latinx beauty standards – especially ones that concern women's hair and are perpetuated by mothers. The Spanglish horror short opened for a Guillermo del Toro retrospective at the Gene Siskel Film Center and was an official selection at the 38th Chicago Latino Film Festival. Other films they’ve collaborated on have screened at museums such as The Art Institute of Chicago and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and premiered at festivals such as the Athens International Film + Video Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival.

In addition to their editorial work, Cookie has built a Letterboxd readership of over 11K followers by writing accessible, thoughtful film reviews, and has also kept up a biweekly newsletter analyzing cinema on Substack. These outlets, which began as simple writing disciplines, have led Cookie around the globe doing press coverage for internationally-renowned film festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, and TIFF.