Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
A film editor breaks up with his girlfriend, unsure if he is in love.
Edward is a friendly, harmless film cutter on the culture department. After a suicide accident, he is put on the mission to cut the "Loose limbs"-series. The blood, gore and violence causes him start go insane. Edward slowly turns into EVIL ED!
In 1945, two young American soldiers, brothers Budd and Stuart Schulberg, are commissioned to collect filmed and recorded evidence of the horrors committed by the infamous Third Reich in order to prove Nazi war crimes during the Nuremberg trials (1945-46). The story of the making of Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today, a paramount historic documentary, released in 1948.
Evan, an orphaned 22-year-old who grew up in the foster care system, buys a vintage 8mm camera in a yard sale from an elderly man, ends up with reels of the man's old home movies, and begins to live vicariously through these home movies.
A sophisticated Hollywood film editor, on location for a film she is working on, falls for a local cowboy who is hired to work on the film.
A political filmmaker finds himself in Long Island for a weekend where he finds himself entangled with a high-living, jet set crowd. At first it is exciting, but soon he finds himself disillusioned by their shallowness.
The film's main theme is obsession. An obsession with love, with art, originality, copying, with success, money and... with oneself. Sooner or later, if we lose our rational upper hand over it and let ourselves be dragged down by it, every obsession leads to destruction. But it is only when being dragged down, in spite of all the cuts and bruises, that we find a unique DELIGHT, if only for a few short moments - and what else is life really about? It is like a drug. What at first seems to be weak and trivial is capable of expanding and growing into a serious problem that can appear to be absolutely incomprehensible and absurd to those who have never experienced anything like it.
This film tells the life story of Ziva Postec, emphasizing the period when she was editing Shoah from 350 hours of footage.
Julien, a movie director, is on the phase of editing his new film, "Juliette sacrifiée". Hurried by his producer, he asks for the help of a professional editor. It is Anne, with whom Julien is soon falling in love. During the whole of the movie, both are sitting in front of the editing table, where they listen to music, talk about politics and what movies should and should not be about.
Legendary film editor and sound designer Walter Murch talks about his work and philosophy. (Based on over 50 hours of Murch's lectures, interviews, and commentaries.)
Marcos, an independent film and video editor, works editing late into the night. On a typical night at work, he has a seizure that causes him to lose consciousness. Upon waking up, he discovers that his way of perceiving life has changed in such a way that he now lives everything and sees it in the same way as a cinematographic montage.