ways the goal of somebody in my position - to find those things that have your whole heart behind them because it can be pretty rare out here .” In the end , The Islander was essentially created in the editing room where they took all of the improvisationally shot footage and turned it into something that looks intentional . Some of the key moments in the film were noticed while the shooting took place , but Derek credits film editor Yuri Chernykh with being able to translate the instinctual narrative and finding moments they didn ’ t anticipate to flesh out the story . “ When we were looking at the footage at the beginning of the editing process , there were two paths we considered ,” recalled Pastuszek . “ We could either go the hyper real way , setting up the film in Beach Haven , New Jersey and you ’ re following around an actual person in 2014 . Or we could put it in a sort of mythical place to make it feel more univer-