‘Dunkirk’ & ‘I, Tonya’ Take Top Film Prizes At ACE Eddie Awards – Winners List

Dunkirk and I, Tonya were the big winners tonight at the 68th annual ACE Eddie Awards, taking the respective marquee prizes for Best Edited Feature Dramatic and Comedy. Both films are nominated for the Best Editing Academy Award.

“The person I must thank the most is the genius director-creator, who produced this film: Christopher Nolan,” Dunkirk editor Lee Smith said in accepting the award. “We’ve been through many warlike battles — not us, personally — with getting the films through and finished on time …Thank God he doesn’t know how to use Avid. I certainly will never show him.”

Tatiana S. Reigel, who won for I, Tonya, seemed stunned and genuinely moved. “There are times in your career where lightning is trapped in a bottle,” she said. “It’s an amazing time — the stars align and everything comes together. This is one of those times.”

Nine of the past 13 Eddie winners for best edited dramatic film have gone on to score the Oscar. La La Land and Arrival won the ACE winners last year, but they lost the Film Editing Academy Award to Hacksaw Ridge.

Pixar’s Coco took the prize for Best Animated Feature, and the Jane Goodall pic Jane took Documentary Feature. Five Came Back, the tale of top directors leaving Hollywood to go and film World War II, won the non-theatrical  docu prize. Check out the full list of winners at the below.

Celebrating the best in film and TV editing during 2017, the Tichina Arnold-hosted awards were presented in 11 categories at the Beverly Hilton, up from 10 last year. ACE for the first time has made separate categories for TV comedy and drama series, and there no longer will be half-hour and one-hour distinctions made. Taking the TV trophies were Hulu’s awards hog The Handmaid’s Tale (Drama Series for Non-Commercial TV), FX’s Fargo (commercial TV drama), ABC’s Black-ish (Comedy Series for Commercial TV), HBO’s Curb Your Enthusaism (non-commercial TV comedy). National Geographic’s Genius won for miniseries/TV movie.

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul‘s Vince Gilligan received the ACE Golden Eddie Award tonight from Skip Macdonald, who worked on both shows.  “If I’ve done anything right, I hired the very best people I could find,” Gilligan said onstage. “For instance, if you’ve got the great Skip Macdonald in your editing room and he goes ‘Hmmmm,’ you’d better do something about it — or better still, go get a sandwich and let Skip do something about it.”

Terminator 2: Judgment Day Oscar nominee Mark Goldblatt picked up a Career Achievement Award, along with and Leon Ortiz-Gil, whose credits range from Kojak and the original Battlestar Galactica to multiple Law & Order series. His award was presented by loooongtime SVU star Mariska Hargitay.

Hargitay recalled directing her first SVU episode. “Wow, Mariska, you got it! Look at the pacing, the tension, the flow, the fluidity, baby! … For a moment, I lived the dream! Then came Leon. You can’t teach that. He gets the rhythm to each scene. Some people cut — and he conducts.”

Here are the winners of the 2018 ACE Eddie Awards:

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):
Dunkirk
Lee Smith, ACE

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY):
I, Tonya
Tatiana S. Riegel, ACE

BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Coco
Steve Bloom

BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
The Handmaid’s Tale: “Offred”
Julian Clarke, ACE & Wendy Hallam Martin

BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
Fargo: “Who Rules the Land of Denial”
Andrew Seklir, ACE

BEST EDITED COMEDY SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
Curb Your Enthusiasm: “The Shucker”
Jonathan Corn, ACE

BEST EDITED COMEDY SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
Black-ish: “Lemons”
John Peter Bernardo, Jamie Pedroza

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE):
Jane
Joe Beshenkovsky, ACE, Will Znidaric, Brett Morgen

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (NON-THEATRICAL):
Five Came Back: The Price of Victory
Will Znidaric

BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR TELEVISION:|
Genius: Einstein “Chapter One”
James D. Wilcox

BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES:|
VICE News Tonight: “Charlottesville: Race & Terror”
Tim Clancy, Cameron Dennis, John Chimples & Denny Thomas

STUDENT COMPETITION WINNER
Mariah Zenk – Missouri
State University