Los Angeles, Feb 28 (.) Hollywood’s top editors took centre stage at the 76th ACE Eddie Awards, where ‘Sinners’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ emerged as the big live-action feature winners, offering fresh clues in the closely watched Oscars editing race, Variety reports.
Held on Friday night at Royce Hall, the ceremony once again underscored the strong correlation between ACE Eddie winners and the Academy Awards. Over the past 26 years, winners in the drama and comedy/musical editing categories have matched the Oscar for Best Film Editing 17 times.
Accepting the award for Sinners, editor Michael Shawver praised director Ryan Coogler, saying, “Ryan Coogler took a big risk, and I think gave audiences something that maybe they didn’t even know they were hungry for, something new, different, fun, and a total experience.”
In animation, KPop Demon Hunters secured the award for best edited animated feature, while The Perfect Neighbour won best edited documentary. The Netflix title is also nominated for an Oscar in the best documentary category, further boosting its awards-season profile.
On the television front, The Studio and The Pitt claimed top honours for best edited comedy and drama, respectively. Meanwhile, Damian Rodriguez won the best edited documentary series for Pee-wee as Himself Part One, dedicating the award to the late Paul Reubens.
Rodriguez said, “We wouldn’t be here without him. He was such an amazing artist, and he influenced so many people, including me. I wish he were here.”
Legendary filmmaker Ang Lee received the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award and used his speech to honour longtime collaborator Tim Squyres. “When you give me this award, you actually give it to Tim Squyres.”
Lee reflected on their decades-long partnership, noting Squyres had edited all his films except Brokeback Mountain. “He missed that one because I told him, after ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,’ I’m retiring, I said ‘I had enough.’ So he took another movie,” Lee added that he has worked with Squyres for over 35 years.
Speaking about the craft itself, Lee offered a vivid metaphor: “It’s very hard to say, but let me put it this way, my wife said, I can only do two things, right, making movies and cooking. So let me use cooking as a metaphor. Shooting is like buying groceries, and the real cooking is on the editing table. That’s how I feel about editing. I feel I have this editing machine in my head when I’m making movies, every section, every setup, editing is at the centre of my consciousness. Every working day I have to answer hundreds of questions about what I want. The only reason I can give directions and put the whole movie together is that I have that editing table in my head.”
Lee added, “We’re in a particularly difficult moment, challenging moment, in our life of cinema. But I do believe, as long as there are moving images, there will be editors.”
Erin Casper, who won best edited short for All The Empty Rooms, dedicated her award to victims of U.S. school shootings and their families, “who opened their doors to us and welcomed us into their sacred spaces of their child’s bedroom preserved just as it was since the last day they saw their child alive.”
She explained, “The word gun is never mentioned in our film, and this was intentional on our part, because we’ve all grown so numb to this epidemic.” She added that the team aimed to centre humanity and “the life that was in these rooms.”
In animation for television, South Park’s “Twisted Christian” episode won best edited animated series. Editor David List said during his speech, “It was especially gratifying to work on these last 10 episodes because Trey and Matt really, really went for it. They challenged the boundaries of censorship and how far all of us can exercise our First Amendment rights, whether it’s political commentary, mocking celebrities or that expertly timed fart joke,” as quoted by Variety.
He added, “Our freedom of speech should ultimately be protected and celebrated regardless of political party affiliation.”
With major wins across film and television, the 76th ACE Eddie Awards not only celebrated editorial excellence but also sharpened the focus on what could unfold at the Oscars.
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