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Sheldon F. Kahn (born March 1, 1940)1 is an American film editor and producer whose career spans four decades of Hollywood studio filmmaking. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated editing on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Out of Africa (1985), and for his long-running creative partnership with director Ivan Reitman, on whose productions he served as editor across twelve films, including both Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989).
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Kahn was born on March 1, 1940. He studied film at the University of Southern California, graduating in 1963.1 USC's cinema program placed him directly into the Hollywood studio system, where he worked his way up through the editorial department.
Kahn began as an assistant film editor in the early 1970s, with credits including Blume in Love and Cinderella Liberty (both 1973).1 He moved into full editing credits in 1975, and his first major assignment proved to be one of the landmark films of the decade.
Kahn co-edited One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, dir. Milos Forman) alongside Lynzee Klingman and Richard Chew.2 The film swept the Academy Awards, winning all five major categories.2 The editing team earned both an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing and a BAFTA Award for Best Editing, which Kahn shared with Klingman and Chew.3 It established Kahn as a major editorial talent and opened the door to high-profile projects through the late 1970s and 1980s.
His second Academy Award nomination came a decade later for Out of Africa (1985, dir. Sydney Pollack), a prestige drama that also won Best Picture.3 The nomination confirmed his range: from the kinetic, improvisational energy of Forman's asylum film to the measured, epic sweep of Pollack's African romance.
Kahn's most sustained professional relationship was with director Ivan Reitman. Having never previously worked together, Kahn was brought in to edit Ghostbusters (1984), and the partnership proved remarkably durable. In the words of a production account from The Complete SFX Guide to Ghostbusters (2014): "We'd never used Sheldon Kahn before and he kept right up with us. As we were shooting he was cutting scenes together." That ability to pace a comedy with visual-effects sequences while editing concurrently with production became a hallmark of his work on Reitman's films.4
He returned for Ghostbusters II (1989) and continued working with Reitman across a further ten pictures, a collaboration that collectively spanned thirty years:
On several of these pictures Kahn also served as associate producer or co-producer, reflecting the depth of trust Reitman placed in him beyond the cutting room.13
Outside the Reitman partnership, Kahn edited Space Jam (1996), the Warner Bros. sports comedy blending live action and animation that became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.1 His final listed editing credit is Draft Day (2014), the twelfth and final Reitman collaboration, making his active career as an editor span roughly four decades.1
Kahn edited the original Ghostbusters, working closely alongside the production as it shot. The film's comedy depends heavily on rhythmic precision in its cuts: the timing of Bill Murray's reactions, the escalation of the library ghost sequence, the cross-cutting of the finale at Spook Central all reflect editorial choices made under considerable time pressure. A production source notes that Kahn was cutting scenes together while filming was still underway, maintaining the fast pace Ivan Reitman demanded throughout.4 He received his standard credit as Film Editor.5
Kahn returned for Ghostbusters II, again credited as the film's editor and also as Associate Producer, a dual role that reflected his expanded involvement in the production.3 His editing credit on the sequel continued the collaborative dynamic established on the original.
"Sheldon Kahn," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Kahn ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_(film) ↩ ↩2
Ghostbusters II Press Kit: Production Information (1989). Columbia Pictures. Via Spook Central, https://www.spookcentral.tk/sclib/film/gb2/index.html "Kahn won the British Academy Award for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' which he co-edited, and he's been nominated twice for an Oscar: for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Out of Africa,' which he also co-edited." ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
SFX Special Edition: The Complete Guide to Ghostbusters, 30th Anniversary Issue (Future Publishing, Bath UK, 2014). "We'd never used Sheldon Kahn before and he kept right up with us. As we were shooting he was cutting scenes together." ↩ ↩2
Ghostbusters Press Kit: Production Information (1984). Columbia Pictures. Via Spook Central, https://www.spookcentral.tk/sclib/film/gb1/index.html "KAHN has edited such films as 'The Electric Horseman,' 'Same Time, Next Year,' 'Bloodbrothers,' 'An Enemy of the People' and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' for which he was nominated for an Academy Award." ↩