Sports drama Warner Bros. King Richard won Best Edited Feature (Drama) on Saturday, ending the 72nd annual ACE Eddie Awards by American Cinema Editors.
Pamela Martin edited an image of Will Smith portraying the father of tennis sensations Venus (Sania Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton), who had a plan to bring young tennis players off the streets of Compton and onto the world stage. The win puts Martin and the film in first place in the Oscar race for Best Film Editing, where he competes against other nominees for Don’t Look Up, Dune, Dog Power and Tick, Tick… Boom! Twenty-two of the last 30 ACE Award winners for Best Dramatic Film Editing and 11 of the last 16 won Oscars, but Ford v Ferrari won the Oscar last year after Rye took Eddie.
This year, King Richard is up for six Oscars, including Best Picture.
Among the other best films winning at today’s ceremony hosted by DJ Lance Rock was Netflix’s Tick, Tick… Boom!, whose editors Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum won Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy). Disney’s Encanto continued its strong presence in the awards season with the Animation Award for Editor Jeremy Milton. Searchlight Pictures’ Summer of the Soul “…or when the revolution couldn’t be televised” won the documentary category.
The Academy’s decision to remove editing awards from the live Oscars did not go unnoticed and was mentioned throughout the two-hour ceremony. ACE President Kevin Tent did not mention Oscar by name, but did mention the controversy at the end of his introduction. “At times there can be some setbacks and agility that can sting,” he said, continuing, “Today is about us…. We know our worth. Any director, producer of any significance knows this.”
In his opening monologue, Rock also spoke out harshly about the decision. He joked that it was a televised ceremony named after a famous grumbler. “The show is being cut this year to keep it shorter. One of the categories they cut is the Editing Award,” to which the crowd booed.
“Who are they going to make it cut? The only editor I feel worse for is the one who was supposed to put together this Gal Gadot ‘Imagine’ video, Rock joked.
The winners on TV today are the editors of AMC’s Kevin Can Fuck Himself and HBO Max’s Hacks for comedy, and HBO’s Legacy for drama. Bo Burnham: Inside and Bob’s Burgers also received prizes.
In her acceptance speech, Hacks editor Susan Weil also noted the Academy’s decision and called on sound engineers and other professionals to reinforce each other to “get those people who don’t think we should be on the air to listen.”
HBO’s Easttown Mare won Best Edited Limited Series, while HBO’s Oslo won Best Non-Theatrical Documentary.
The ceremony included awarding non-fiction writer Lillian E. Benson and Oscar-winning Star Wars editor Richard Chu with a Career Achievement Award for their outstanding contributions to film editing. The Sundance Institute became the first film organization to win the ACE Eddie Awards’ highest honor, the Golden Eddie.
Benson concluded her acceptance speech with a quote from an anthem from an episode of Eye on the Prize that she edited about the Memphis sanitation strike. “Bending, stooping, safe and secure from all anxieties. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the eternal hand,” she quotes. “I’m standing here tonight, leaning on an overloaded arm. I hope for a safe, secure and inclusive world and a safe, secure and inclusive industry.”
Chu could hardly hold back his tears as he began his acceptance speech. “Even if you prepare for this, you will never be ready for a moment like this,” he told the audience.
“It wasn’t until we had our first TV, when I was 9, that I was able to watch movies on a 12-inch screen,” he recalls. “From them I saw how adults who were not part of my family talked to each other and behaved, sometimes badly, sometimes with honor. I have seen couples fall in love and fall out of love. But those films on TV were old and sometimes had nothing to do with the world as I knew it. Fast forward 15 years. I am in my second year of law school. I saw “Nothing but a Man”. This greatly influenced me. He showed racial inequality under the guise of a love story. So I saw how the social context gives meaning to the story. That’s when films became relevant to me and made me realize that I want to learn how to make films that matter,” Chu said, adding, “I think maybe we could do both, entertain and send messages. Maybe we could use movies to encourage the best angels in our nature.”
Here is the complete list of winners:
BEST EDITED FILM (DRAMA)
King Richard
Pamela Martin, ACE
BEST FILM (COMEDY)
tick, tick… BOOM!
Myron Kerstein, ACE, Andrew Weisblum, ACE
BEST EDITING CARTOON
Encanto
Jeremy Milton, ACE
BEST DOCUMENTARY (FILM)
Summer of the soul… or when the revolution could not be shown on television
Joshua L. Pearson
BEST DOCUMENTARY (NON-THEATRIC)
The Beatles: Come Back Episode 3.
Jabez Olssen
BEST MULTI-CAMERA COMEDY EDITING SERIES
Kevin can fuck himself “Live free or die”
Daniel Schalk, ACE and Joseph Fulton
BEST REDACTED SINGLE-CAMERA COMEDY SERIES
Khaki “1.69 million”
Susan Weil, ACE
BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES
Continuity “All the Bells Speak”
Ken Eluto, ACE
BEST EDITED FILM (NON-THEATRIC)
Oslo
Jay Rabinovich, ACE
BEST REVISED LIMITED SERIES
Mare from Easttown “Illusions”
Amy E. Duddleston, ACE
BEST REVISED SERIES WITHOUT A SCRIPT
Formula 1: Ride to Survive “Man on Fire”
Dan Ablett, Kevin Austin, Otto Burnham, Shane McCormack, Graham Taylor
BEST EDIT VARIETY/SKETCH SHOW OR SPECIAL
Bo Burnham: Inside
Bo Burnham
BEST EDITED CARTOON (NON THEATER)
Bobs Burgers “Disco Vampire Dance of Death”
Jeremy Reuben
ANNA W. COATES AWARD FOR STUDENT EDITING
Guangqing Lin – American Film Institute