Karen Pearlman is a film scholar, known for her pioneering work in articulating underlying principles concerning what rhythm in film is and the purpose it serves in modulating cycles of tension and release for viewers.^[1] Currently Associate Professor in Screen Production and Practice at Macquarie University, she is the author of Cutting Rhythms, Shaping the Film Edit (Focal Press, 2009) and its second edition Cutting Rhythms, Intuitive Film Editing (Focal Press, 2016).

The focus of Pearlman's research, first developed when Head of Screen Studies at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, is on the connection of film theory and practice by making conceptual thinking accessible and useful to practitioners.^[2] She co-directs The Physical TV Company with Richard James Allen.^[3] In 2009 Dr Pearlman was elected President of The Australian Screen Editors Guild (ASE).

Many of Pearlman's ideas about rhythm, editing, and affect derive from her career as a professional dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; dancing and choreographing in the theaters, lofts and experimental dance venues of Australia, the US and in Europe. As well as using her understanding of kinesthetic empathy in her theorizing, she applies her choreographic sensibility to her own editing and dramaturgy.

• Pearlman, Karen (2016). Cutting Rhythms: Intuitive Film Editing. New York; London: Focal Press, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group. pp. xxix, 264 p. : ill., 24 cm. ISBN 978-1-138-94608-8. (hbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-138-85651-6 (pbk. : alk. paper).
• Pearlman, Karen (2009). Cutting Rhythms: Shaping the Film Edit. Amsterdam; Boston: Focal Press/Elsevier. pp. xxix, 269 p. : ill., 24 cm. ISBN 978-0-240-81014-0. (hbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 0-240-81014-7 (pbk. : alk. paper).
• Allen, Richard James; Karen Pearlman (1999). Performing the Unnameable: An Anthology of Australian Performance Texts. Sydney, N.S.W., Australia: Currency Press in association with RealTime. pp. xv, 203 p. : ill., 28 cm. ISBN 0-86819-420-4.
• Allen, Richard James; Karen Pearlman (1996). New Life on the 2nd Floor. Launceston, TAS, Australia: Tasdance. pp. 76 p. : ill., 22 cm. ISBN 0-9586795-0-9.

• Dr Karen Pearlman at the Macquarie University
• Cutting Rhythms: Intuitive Film Editing
• Karen Pearlman Filmmaking Blog
• Cutting Rhythms: Shaping the Film Edit
• Performing The Unnameable: An Anthology of Australian Performance Texts
• The Physical TV Company
• The Physical TV Channel on YouTube
• The Physical TV Company Website selected for preservation by Pandora, Australia's Web Archive, at the National Library of Australia
• Dr Karen Pearlman on ABC Radio National Australia Talks Movies: Dance Film
• Reviews, Articles and Books by and Interviews with Dr Karen Pearlman
• Karen Pearlman at the Manuscripts Collection, the State Library of New South Wales
• Karen Pearlman at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Karen Pearlman at IMDb
• Portrait of Karen Pearlman at the National Library of Australia