The anticipated 73rd annual ACE Eddie Awards were presented live at a new venue, UCLA’s Royce Hall, followed by dinner and a reception on the campus lawn. The top winners in the theatrical categories were Eddie Hamilton, ACE, whose work on Top Gun: Maverick won the award for dramatic feature; and Paul Rogers, whose edit of Everything Everywhere All at Once earned the Eddie for comedic feature.

Accepting the award, Rogers – who went on to win the Oscar in film editing – spoke about diversity. “Everyone here has a special secret talent,” he said. “It feels like everyone speaks the same language which is rare and why I feel comfortable saying that the nominees in my category are all white dudes. I was lucky enough to build my career out of Hollywood and to be invited into the room since our show blew up. While it is wonderful what ACE is doing with diversity it has become clear to me that it’s up to us white men to do more in terms of what stories we are going to tell and who we choose to make them with. So I encourage all of us to keep trying to tell stories the world needs and what we want to see.”

Accepting the Golden Eddie, The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood also spoke of DEI. “Too often I am asked why I cast my crew with women and people of color. I cast the best crew for the film,” she said. “The difference is that I am intentional in looking past the resume because the reality of our industry is that too many of us are locked out because of a lack of opportunity. There are so many talented artists who will elevate your work and I have been so lucky to find so many of them.”

Of her longtime collaborator in the editing room, she added, “I am so grateful for the Eddie because it honors the work of my forever editor Terilyn Shropshire, ACE. She is my first audience and we have built an incredible trust over 25 years together.” The director added that Shropshire has edited “all my films, pilots and every pitch and sizzle reel, even my son’s NYU application. We have learned not to talk after we watch the editor’s assembly for the first time because it ends with me curled up in a fetal position questioning my worth. But when Teri tells me to get my ass up off the floor, that I made a good film, I trust her words and I can get to work.”

Lynne Willingham, ACE, and Don Zimmerman, ACE, received Career Achievement Awards during the ceremony, which was hosted by Ashley Nicole Black and presided over by ACE President Kevin Tent, ACE. “What I have learned after 43 years in the business is that you are a much happier and more successful person if you treat your co-workers with respect,” said Willingham (Breaking Bad, Your Honor) whose  award was presented by Bryan Cranston.

“When I started as an apprentice at Paramount I did just about anything anyone asked of me because I wanted to be an assistant and was terrified of being sent home. The pressure made me grumpy. My mentor taught me an important lesson that I hold true to this day: that it’s okay not to be up all the time but to leave your attitude at home.

“I like to run a calm, organized, no drama cutting room,” she added. “A place that feels like an integral part of the process. A shelter where your assistant feels it’s okay to give their opinion even when not asked. A place where, if you are open and smart enough, you learn something from everyone.” Director Dean Parisot presented the Career Achievement Award to his collaborator, Don Zimmerman (Coming Home, Being There). He got a laugh when he remembered advice his wife, the late Sally Menke, ACE, said when Zimmerman’s name came up to edit Galaxy Quest: “Don’t screw this up.” He added, “When you work with Don, you also work with his family,” recognizing the Zimmerman family includes editors Dan and Dean, both ACE members. Don Zimmerman reflected that he was “fortunate to have been championed by some of the greats of the business,” citing Taylor Hackford, Warren Beatty, Hal Ashby and Fred Schepisi.

“Being an editor for over 50 years I collaborated with some of the most talented people. They all taught me that telling a story is more than just an image. Editing is an art form and I have loved being a part of this creative process.” He saluted his assistants, saying, “Throughout my career I have seen the cutting room change from Moviola to editing in digital and could not have done this transition without help of all my wonderful assistants.”

Among the Eddie winners were Ken Schretzmann, ACE, and Holly Klein, who topped the feature animation category for their work on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Erin Casper and Jocelyne Chaput, who won the feature documentary award for Fire of Love; and Joe Beshenkovsky, ACE, who claimed the honor for non-theatrical doc for George Carlin’s American Dream.

In series work, winners included Chris Poulos for The Neighborhood episode “Welcome to the Art of Negotiation” (multi-camera comedy series); Joanna Naugle for The Bear episode “System” (single camera comedy series); Simon Smith for Andor episode “One Way Out” (drama series); and John M. Valerio, ACE, for The White Lotus Season 2 finale “Arrivederci” (limited series). Stephanie Filo, ACE, Bradinn French, Taylor Joy Mason and S. Robyn Wilson collected an Eddie win for A Black Lady Sketch Show episode “Save My Edges, I’m A Donor!” (best edited variety talk/sketch show or special). “It’s not lost on all us that there are not very many post teams that look like us,” said Filo of the all Black editing team. “We are so grateful and we hope to see so many more who look like us in the future.”

Awards also went to Jamie Kennedy, who picked up an Eddie for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (non-theatrical feature film); and Paula Salhany, Brandon Kieffer, Andrew Pattison, Catherine Lee and Victoria Lesiw, for Vice episode “Killing for Success & Marcos Returns” (best edited non-scripted series). Kirk Baxter, ACE, collected an award for the Love, Death & Robots episode “Bad Travelling,” which was honored for best edited animated series.

Also during the ceremony, Jazmin Jamias of American Film Institute was the recipient of the Anne V. Coates Award for Student Editing.