Valérie Smith studied film at the Université Paris VIII before moving to Berlin. She has worked as a freelance film editor for over twenty years, specializing in documentary films and working with various film production companies. "Hase und Igel", a short film she edited, received the Silver Prize at the German Short Film Awards (Bundeskurzfilmpreis) in 2000. For the feature-length documentary film "Sieben Brüder" she was nominated for the Schnittpreis (Editors' Award) Film+ in 2004. Valérie Smith also received a grant for her artistic project "Schnitt.Punkt Metamorphose" at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. She is a member of the Bundesverband Filmschnitt Editor e.V. (BFS — German Association of Film Editors).