American Cinema Editors Condemns Oscars’ Pre-Taped Category Revamp, Calls For Future Demonstration Of “Fairness And Inclusiveness”

American Cinema Editors today released a video statement decrying the presentation of film editing and seven other categories as pre-taped segments during the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, also calling in the 56-video for change moving forward.

The video opens on a quote from iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, which sees him noting that editing is “the essence” of cinema.

“This year’s Academy Awards ceremony left film editors and many other essential arts on the cutting room floor of cinematic history,” members of ACE wrote in a subsequent statement. “We feel cheated, insulted and angry by the way our art was deemed superfluous, in favor of bloated performances and spectacle.”

ACE then went on to call for Production Designers, Set Decorators, Costume Designers, Composers, Makeup/Hair Stylists, Short-Film Creators, Sound Artists and artists across all disciplines “to join us in demanding fairness and inclusiveness.

“Give us a voice in this process,” the guild wrote in closing. “Let us work together to find a solution that truly honors filmmaking and assure this never happens again.”

The video statement reflects the sentiment of ACE’s 1000+ members who have expressed to the ACE Board of Directors that they felt film editing was not treated with the dignity deserved during the broadcast, and that these artists were treated as second-class citizens and denied the celebratory experience that other winners had. Members cited issues with seeing artisans’ speeches cut down and ending up on social media before being integrated into the telecast. Winners in categories including Best Production Design, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Sound, Documentary Short, Animated Short and Live-Action Short.were forced to show up early to give said speeches, only to have to deliver them in front of an audience of seat-fillers. Also frustrating was the fact that speeches shared with the press were abridged, rather than presented in their entirety.

AMPAs President David Rubin announced the decision to revamp the 2022 Oscars ceremony, with eight pre-taped categories edited into the final show, on February 22 and saw it meet instant backlash from groups including the American Cinema Editors and the Set Decorators of America, as well as such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro. ACE’s message comes ahead of the Academy’s convening of its Board of Governors on Tuesday, to unpack this year’s ceremony with an eye on the next edition.

Check out ACE’s video statement by clicking below.