Ziva Postec, The Editor Behind the Film Shoah

While few today may be familiar with her name, Ziva Postec remains one of the most talented filmmakers to come out of Israel. Born in 1940, at age 21, Postec moved to Paris where she became a professional editor and worked with leading directors, such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Resnais, and Orson Welles. The highlight of her career, however, was when she edited Claude Lanzmann’s monumental film Shoah between the years 1979-1985. The documentary before us follows Postec’s life, while focusing on Shoah—including new behind-the-scenes details of its production—which she constructed out of 350 hours of film shot by Lanzmann. When Shoah was completed, Postec collapsed from fatigue and required several months to recuperate. She returned to Israel in 1986 where she lives to this day.