Michael Kahn

Michael Kahn (born December 8, 1930) is an American film editor, known for his frequent collaboration with Steven Spielberg. He has edited all but two of Spielberg's films since 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Career

Early work Kahn worked in the post-production department of Desilu during the 1960s, where he was apprentice to editor Dann Cahn. editing 131 of the 168 episodes, over six seasons. Early in his career, he edited George C. Scott's only two films as director - Rage (1972) and The Savage Is Loose (1974).

He also edited Hogan's Heroes star Ivan Dixon's directorial efforts Trouble Man (1972) and The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1976), several B movies directed by Robert Clouse, and the cult horror film The Devil's Rain.

With Steven Spielberg His first collaboration with Steven Spielberg was for his 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He has edited all of Spielberg's subsequent films except for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which was edited by Carol Littleton and Disclosure Day (2026), which was edited by Sarah Broshar. Kahn has received eight Academy Award nominations for Best Film Editing, and has won three times—for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Schindler's List (1993), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), which were all Spielberg-directed films.

Kahn has edited digitally since at least Twister (1996), though he continued to edit on film with Spielberg long after most editors had stopped doing so. In 2008, Kahn acknowledged that "people find it hard to believe that Steven and I still edit film on a Moviola and a KEM. [But] Steven feels film got us where we are today and he loves the smell of it and feel of it. We started that way and both really enjoy it." George Lucas remarked "Michael Kahn can cut faster on a Moviola than anybody can cut on an Avid." However, since The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011), Kahn has edited Spielberg's films on an Avid machine.

Since 2017, Kahn has co-edited his films with Sarah Broshar.

2014 Seventh Son Sergei Bodrov

Television Awards and nominations Kahn equaled the record for the most Oscar wins (three) in the Best Film Editing category, shared with Ralph Dawson, Daniel Mandell, and Thelma Schoonmaker. Furthermore, he had eight nominations in that category—a number surpassed only by Schoonmaker. All of Kahn's Oscars came from his work on Spielberg's films, which included Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Schindler's List (1993), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). He has received six nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, winning for Fatal Attraction (1987) and Schindler's List.

Kahn has been selected for membership in the American Cinema Editors (ACE). In 2011, he received the Career Achievement Award of the American Cinema Editors. At the ceremony, Steven Spielberg said of editing: "this is where filmmaking goes from a craft to an art." In November 2013, Spielberg created the Michael Kahn Endowed Chair in Editing at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts in honor of Kahn. The first to be appointed to the position was Norman Hollyn.

Year Association Category Project Result Ref. 1977 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Close Encounters of the Third Kind BAFTA Awards Best Editing 1981 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Raiders of the Lost Ark ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic BAFTA Awards Best Editing 1984 BAFTA Awards Best Editing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1987 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Fatal Attraction ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic BAFTA Awards Best Editing Academy Awards Best Film Editing Empire of the Sun 1993 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Schindler's List ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic BAFTA Awards Best Editing 1997 Satellite Award Best Editing Amistad 1998 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Saving Private Ryan ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic BAFTA Awards Best Editing Satellite Award Best Editing 2005 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Munich ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic Satellite Awards Best Editing War of the Worlds 2011 Annie Award Best Editing in a Feature Production The Adventures of Tintin Saturn Award Best Editing 2011 ACE Eddie Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic War Horse Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Editing Satellite Award Best Editing 2012 Academy Awards Best Film Editing Lincoln Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Editing 2015 BAFTA Awards Best Editing Bridge of Spies Satellite Award Best Editing 2016 Saturn Award Best Editing The BFG 2017 ACE Eddie Award Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic The Post Critics' Choice Movie Award Best Editing San Diego Film Critics Society Best Editing San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Editing St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Editing 2021 Critics' Choice Movie Award best Editing West Side Story