Bermudian Christopher Frith first became interested in filmmaking after being “blown away” by the Star Wars films and realising during the credits that people actually get paid for this line of work.

Fast forward a few years and the 23-year-old is now working as a Hollywood assistant editor and has recently been rubbing shoulders with Tom Cruise on the set of Mission Impossible 5. Mr Frith’s brother Andrew saw a passion in him from a young age and bought him a camera for a Christmas present.

Mr Frith later took a film camp sponsored by the Bermuda International Film Festival, which inspired him to keep making more and more sophisticated movies. He was lucky enough to have attended one of the best film schools in the world — UNC School of the Arts — and specialised in editing and sound design before moving to Los Angeles. From there he worked on a few films and television shows and soon became eligible to join the Motion Picture Editors Guild in Hollywood.

His hard work and dedication paid off and he now finds himself working with some of the most successful in the industry including the cast and crew of the fifth in the Mission Impossible franchise.

Mr Frith said: “The best part of the project so far has been getting to meet and learn from so many world-class artists and become intimately familiar with their processes.

“I don’t often spend a whole lot of time with actors but Tom [Cruise] is a producer on the film as well as the star and he is in with us all the time helping to shape things up.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our interactions and meetings are confidential but I would like to say that Tom is always extremely kind to every member of the crew, and is incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of filmmaking and also cinema history.

“He works very hard and has good taste and a fun sense of humour.

“Working with him, and really everyone around here, is a great privilege and education.

“One of the great things about working on big studio films is that everyone on the crew is one of the best in the world at what they do — they wouldn’t have been hired otherwise.

“Every department has people that are so experienced and knowledgeable and have worked on films that I loved growing up so it’s great working with and learning from them.

“Whenever you walk on set you can just point at anyone and there’s a good chance they’ve won an Oscar.”

Mr Frith recalls a saying in the cutting room that goes: “The editor edits and the assistant editor does everything else”.

He explained: “At the end of the day, the assistant is responsible for running and representing the cutting room and communicating with all the various departments so the editor can focus on the story and be creative.”

Asked what inspires him about the film industry, Mr Frith said: “Films and television are the single most important purveyors of popular culture in the world today.

“No matter what we would like to think, they are often the front line in the development of our values, our desires, what we seek to emulate, where we learn about love, hate, sex, justice, the differences in the sexes, the races and within our families.

“It is incumbent upon filmmakers to remember that both film and television will shape the cultural and moral character of all those that they come into contact with.

“At the present moment, more than any other in history, and especially given the deteriorating global view of western culture, we need to educate and display a new kind of filmmaker, one who goes beyond commerce to find essential truths and explorations that can be universally successful, embraced and admired.”

Offering advice to any budding editors out there, Mr Frith said passion has been a central component of his success.

“It is important to be very passionate and have a desire to tell stories, since that’s what we do above all else.

“Select a few of your favourite films and be able to cleanly articulate why you like them and what characteristics speak to you more clearly than other films. Then make your own films.

“Get to know people and understand more clearly what they do.

“Look at yourself from a third-person perspective — colleagues in the film industry spend much more time together than they do with their families and if you are too loud or too quiet, unable to anticipate the needs of others or can’t juggle the various inter-department politics in the film industry, then you need to recognise this and change.

“When you are working it is important to remember to always do your best work every day with a great attitude and listen more than you talk. Above all, you just have to love it.”