Jay Rabinowitz is an American film editor and commercial editor. He is certified by the American Cinema Editors.
Rabinowitz studied at New York University, where he graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the undergraduate Cinema Studies program. During the program he learned of a film in pre-production that needed an intern, which turned out to be Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law (1986). He is credited as the assistant editor for several films in the next years, including Jarmusch's Mystery Train (1989-edited by Melody London).[1]
In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild included two films edited by Rabinowitz in its listing of the best-edited films of all time. Requiem for a Dream (2000) was 29th, and The Tree of Life (2011) was 65th.[6]
In 2019, he received the Sophia Lifetime Achievement Award from the Portuguese Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (Academia Portuguesa das Artes e Ciências Cinematográficas).
A short biography and links to six video clips with Rabinowitz: "Artists in Residence: Jay Rabinowitz". Manhattan Edit Workshop. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
Another appreciation of the editing in 'Requiem': Rabin, Nathan. "Requiem For A Dream is intense, but is it great?". The Dissolve. And if Requiem For A Dream isn't the best-edited American film of the past 25 years, then it's at least a formidable candidate for one of the most edited films of the past quarter-decade.