By Anthony Nadeau

https://cceditors.ca/
Preparations for the 2nd Annual Canadian Cinema Editor (C.C.E.) Awards began in October of 2011. The event returned to the Capital Event Theatre in Toronto on May 17, 2012. President Paul Winestock, C.C.E., and Vice President Paul Day, C.C.E., had a meeting with the organizing committee to better plan this year’s awards. “First lesson was to start preparations earlier. In our first year, the awards came up quite last minute as an idea, and so we only had four months to execute the whole thing,” recalled Winestock.

With the amount of time there was to prepare for the awards night, they were determined to not incur any debt this time around. They had sent a package to possible sponsors to help with the awards show with the hope they could find the help they needed. Winestock explained, “While the sponsors who were there the first year were very excited to return, we certainly heard little but crickets from potential sponsors.”

They hired a PR person right after the submissions were sent out resulting in 140 submissions in eight separate categories. Paul Day mentioned, “I think having a PR person on board helped us gain some much needed credibility for the Awards and the organization. Announcements were hitting the Canadian news wire services and a bit of buzz goes a long way. We had a wonderful two-page spread in CinemaEditor magazine, which generated attention and, again, much need credibility.”

When the juries began to return their decisions, their committee co-chair Mark Sanders had heard rumblings that Deluxe was interested in coming on board as a much more significant sponsor. They saw C.C.E. as an increasingly important center of activity for post-production in Toronto and Vancouver, and had found the awards night the first year to be well produced enough to be deserving of greater attention and funding. This was an exciting development … that would require more time to pursue. Given the hectic work schedules for everyone involved, everything at C.C.E. takes longer than in other institutions. So as much as they wanted to nail down this potential new direction, it took several weeks and a couple of meetings with Deluxe for C.C.E and Deluxe to agree to a major sponsorship. The awards would be named “2012 Canadian Cinema Editors Awards by deluxe.” As a result, a fantastic opportunity opened up for C.C.E., allowing them to expand the awards night this year, but especially next year.

With only two weeks before the awards, all sorts of elements had to be addressed: The program booklet had to be redesigned with the new name, new logo placements and, due to additions of other new sponsors, the booklet was sent to the printer 24 hours before the awards show! The photo board had to be quickly rejigged with Deluxe’s new place, and new sponsors. And the PR rep, Diane Foy of Skylar Entertainment, was kept busy sending out press releases announcing this major sponsorship and awards naming.

Regardless of all the stress that went with it, it was a banner year! Some 212 people attended the 2nd annual awards show. At almost 200 members, in just five years, the C.C.E. has reached a potential never thought possible in such a short period of time.

It is and has been a lot of work but members of the industry, sponsors, critics, etc., realize that creating something from nothing doesn’t happen overnight. But what has materialized is a wonderful thing. The Canadian Cinema Editors is a real thing now and will continue to grow and be incredible for all involved.

In closing, Winestock had this to say, “In the end, we did succeed overwhelmingly. The event was a huge success and people are excited for the 3rd Annual C.C.E. Awards by deluxe.”

Winners of the 2012 C.C.E. Awards by deluxe

Lifetime Achievement Award
Ron Wisman, C.C.E.

Lifetime Achievement Award
George Appleby, C.C.E.

Best Editing in a One-Hour Television Series
Teresa De Luca, C.C.E. (Combat Hospital – Episode 110 “Reason to Believe”)

Best Editing in Feature-Length Dramatic
Roger Mattiussi, C.C.E. (Afghan Luke)

Best Editing in Broadcast Half-Hour Drama
Brigitte Rabazo (Todd & The Book of Pure Evil Episode 206 “Fisting Fantasy”)

Best Editing in a Documentary
Michele Hozer, C.C.E. (West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson)

Best Editing in Television Movie or Mini-Series
Don Cassidy, C.C.E. (The Kennedys – Episode 4 “Broken Promises and Deadly Barriers”)

Best Editing in Lifestyle / Reality
Jonathan Dowler (Undercover Boss Canada – Episode 1003 “1-800 GOT JUNK”)

Best Editing in Animation
Kurt Skyers & Robert Henry (Scaredy Squirrel – Episode 22 “Perfect Pickle / Goat Police”)

Best Editing in a Short Film
Michelle Szemberg (Business Ethics)

Student Merit Awards
Fostering education of editing amongst students and peers is one of the primary mandates of the C.C.E., and we proudly wish to congratulate the recipients of the 2012 Student Merit Awards!

Jake Chirica – York University – Catalyst
Orlee Buium – York University – Young Love
Michael Ciuffini – Sheridan College – Asylum
Shelly Therrien – Sheridan College – Lens