The American Cinema Editors have announced nominations for their 66th annual ACE Eddie Awards, and there are a few surprises. For one, this year’s list of nominees is very blockbuster-heavy, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, and Mad Max: Fury Road all landing nominations in the Drama category, while Marvel’s Ant-Man scored a nod in the Comedy category. Additionally, wholly absent from this list is the supposed Oscar frontrunner for Best Picture, Spotlight. The understated Tom McCarthy drama has been raking in the critics group and precursor awards, but was left off the nominations list from the ACE. Given the straightforward, understated nature of the film it’s easy to see aspects like editing and even directing getting overlooked, but just because they’re not noticeable doesn’t mean they’re not notable.

Regardless, for those worrying about its Oscar prospects, not to fear. A Best Editing Oscar nomination is usually but not always a strong indicator for Best Picture glory, with last year’s Birdman landing the top prize without a Best Editing nomination.


The ACE Eddie nomination I’m most happy to see? The Big Short, which I feel is one of the year’s most impeccably crafted films. Also nice to see Sicario getting some love from the editor’s branch, and a well-deserved mention for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Check out the full list of nominations below. The ACE Eddie Awards will be handed out on January 29th.

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Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic):

Mad Max: Fury Road

Margaret Sixel

The Martian

Pietro Scalia, ACE

The Revenant

Stephen Mirrione, ACE

Sicario

Joe Walker, ACE

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Maryann Brandon, ACE and Mary Jo Markey, ACE

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy):

Ant-Man

Dan Lebental, ACE and Colby Parker, Jr., ACE

The Big Short

Hank Corwin, ACE

Joy

Jay Cassidy, ACE, Alan Baumgarten, ACE, 
Christopher Tellefsen, ACE and Tom Cross, ACE

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

David Trachtenberg

Trainwreck

William Kerr, ACE and Paul Zucker

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Best Edited Animated Feature Film:

Anomalisa

Garret Elkins


Inside Out

Kevin Nolting, ACE

The Good Dinosaur

Stephen Schaffer, ACE

Best Edited Documentary (Feature):

Amy

Chris King

Cobain: Montage of Heck

Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Andy Grieve

He Named Me Malala

Greg Finton, ACE, Brian Johnson and Brad Fuller

The Wrecking Crew

Claire Scanlon

Best Edited Documentary (Television):

Keith Richards: Under the Influence

Joshua L. Pearson

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst "Chapter 1"

Richard Hankin, ACE, Zac Stuart-Pontier, Caitlyn Greene, Shelby Siegel

The Seventies: The United State vs. Nixon

Chris A. Peterson, ACE

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Image via HBO

Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television:

Inside Amy Schumer: "12 Angry Men"

Nick Paley

Silicon Valley: "Two Days of the Condor"

Brian Merken, ACE

Veep: "Election Night"

Gary Dollner


Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television:

Better Call Saul: "Five-O"

Kelley Dixon, ACE

Better Call Saul: “Uno”

Skip Macdonald, ACE

Fargo: “Did You Do This? No, You Did It!”

Skip Macdonald, ACE and Curtis Thurber

The Good Wife: “Restrain”

Scott Vickrey, ACE

Mad Men: “Person to Person”

Tom Wilson

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Image via HBO

Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial Television:

Game of Thrones: "The Dance of Dragons"

Katie Weiland

Game of Thrones: "Hardhome"

Tim Porter

Homeland: “The Tradition of Hospitality”

Harvey Rosenstock, ACE

House of Cards: “Chapter 39”

Lisa Bromwell, ACE

The Knick: “Wonderful Surprises”

Mary Ann Bernard

Best Edited Longform (Miniseries or Motion Picture) for Television:

Bessie

Brian A. Kates, ACE

Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors

Maysie Hoy, ACE

Orange is the New Black: “Trust No Bitch” (90 minute episode)


William Turro

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Image via Netflix

Best Edited Non-Scripted Series:

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: “Bay Area”

Hunter Gross, ACE

Deadliest Catch: “Zero Hour”

Josh Earl, ACE and Ben Bulatao

Whale Wars: "The Darkest Hour"

Eric Driscoll, Nik Jamgocyan, Chris Kirkpatrick, David Michael Maurer, ACE, Greg McDonald, Marcus Miller and Alexandria Scott