“Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” won Best Live-Action Feature at the 76th ACE Eddie Awards.
Sinners editor Michael Schober said, “I think Ryan Coogler took a huge risk and gave viewers something they didn’t even realize they were looking for: something new, different, fun, and holistic.”
“KPop Demon Hunters” won the award for Best Animated Feature Film.
The awards were presented Friday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall, giving Oscar watchers an insight into the Oscars’ race for Best Editing. Winners of Best Motion Picture Drama Editing and Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical Editing have tied the Oscar for Best Editing 17 times in the past 26 years.
“The Perfect Neighbor” won the award for Best Edited Documentary. The Netflix documentary was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary category.
Damian Rodriguez, who won Best Edited Documentary Series for “Pee-wee as Himself – Part One,” dedicated his win to his team and Paul Ruben. Rodriguez said, “We wouldn’t be here without him. He was such a great artist and influenced so many people, including me. I wish he was here.”
In the television category, “The Studio” and “The Pit” won Best Edited Comedy and Best Edited Drama, respectively.
ACE Eddies recognizes editorial excellence in film, television, documentaries, short features, and digital content. Ang Lee received the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker Award. Kim Larson and YouTube Will received the ACE Visionary Award, and film editor Arthur Forney, ACE, Robert Leighton received the ACE Career Achievement Award.
Lee dedicated the award to his trusted editor, Tim Squires. “When you give me this award, you’re actually giving it to Tim Squires,” Lee said of how Squires cut all of his films except for “Brokeback Mountain.” “He missed it because I said I was retiring after ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,’ and I said, ‘Enough is enough.’ So he did another movie,” said Mr. Lee, who has known Mr. Squires for more than 35 years.
On what editing means to Lee, he said: “It’s very hard to say, but my wife told me that there are only two things I can do: make movies and cook. So let me use cooking as a metaphor. Shooting is like buying groceries, and the real cooking is on the editing table. When I’m making a movie, I feel like every section, every setup, every edit is at the center of me. I feel like I have this editing machine in my head that I have to answer hundreds of questions about what I want every day. The only reason I can give directions and put together an entire movie is because I have an editing table in my head. Director Lee added, “We are at a particularly difficult and challenging time in the life of cinema.However, as long as there is moving footage, I believe that editors will exist.”
Erin Casper, who won the short story editing award for “All the Empty Rooms,” about breaking into the bedrooms of children killed in US school shootings, dedicated her victory to the victims and families who “opened the door to us and welcomed us into the sacred space of a child’s room, preserved as it was from the day we last saw them alive.” She went on to say, “The word gun never appears in our film. This was intentional on our part, because we have all become so desensitized to this epidemic.”
She said their goal is to center humanity and “the lives that were in this room.”
The Twisted Christian episode of “South Park” won Best Edited Animated Series. In his acceptance speech, editor David Rist said, “I was especially happy to work on the final 10 episodes because Trey and Matt put their heart and soul into it. They pushed the limits of censorship and challenged how far all of us can exercise our First Amendment rights, whether it’s political commentary, celebrity mockery, or a well-timed fart joke.” He added: “Our freedom of speech should ultimately be protected and celebrated, regardless of political affiliation.”
The complete list of winners is below.
Edited feature films (drama, stage)
“Sinners”
Michael P. Shober
Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy, Drama)
“One battle after another”
Andy Jurgensen
Best Edited Animated Film Award
“KPop Demon Hunters”
Nathan Shauf
Best edited documentary
“The perfect neighbor”
Viridiana Lieberman
Best Edited Documentary Series
“Pee-wee Himself – Part 1”
Damien Rodriguez
Best Edited Multi-Camera Comedy Series
“Frasier” (Most Finch Murder)
Russell Griffin, ACE
Best Editing for a Single Camera Comedy Series
“The Studio” (The Promotion)
Eric Kissack, ACE
Best edited drama series
“The Pit” (6 p.m.)
Mark Strand, ACE
Best Edited Feature Film (Non-Theatrical)
“Winter Song”
Yvette M. Amirian, ACE
Best Edit Limited Series
“The Penguin” (both great and small)
Henk van Egen, ACE
Best Edited Reality Series
“Conan O’Brien Must Go” (Austria)
Matthew Shaw, ACE
Brad Laurent
Best Edited Variety Talk/Sketch Show or Special
“Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special”
paul del gesso
Christopher Salerno
ryan spears
Sean McIlwraith, ACE
Ryan McIlwraith
Daniel Garcia
Best edited anime series
“South Park” (Twisted Christian)
david list
Nate Pelletieri
Best Edited Short Story Award
“Everything is an empty room”
Erin Casper, ACE
stephen main
Jeremy Medoff
Ann V. Coates Award for Student Editing
Luis Barragan – California State University, Fullerton
