The Academy has only one film editing category, the American Cinema Editors have four. Two of them, the ones for animation and documentary, never have a bearing on the Oscar version and while comedy/musical editing can sometimes impact the Oscar selection, it’s the drama category you have to pay the most attention to. (Editor’s Note: Originally posted on Feb. 25, but the awards had been rescheduled to Mar. 5. Reposting today for the new weekend event date.)
AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS AWARDS
Best Drama Editing
Belfast (RU:Peter, RU:Tripp)
Dune (Wesley, Tripp, Thomas)
King Richard
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog (Peter, RU:Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Wesley Lovell: With editing, more isn’t always better, but for the editors guild, the opposite is true. Two films feature heavy action, one is a sports drama, and the other two are intimate dramas with minimal editing. Ultimately, I think Dune will take this one. None of the others strike me as editing winners. I would love to see The Power of the Dog win, but that’s probably a pipe dream.
Peter J. Patrick: Any of the nominees could pull off a win here, but I’m anticipating a win for year’s best reviewed film, The Power of the Dog, with Belfast a possible upset winner.
Tripp Burton: I think a common theme in the technical categories this year will be Dune versus The Power of the Dog, and I’m giving the edge to the mere size and scope of Dune here.
Thomas LaTourette: Even though it felt like it could have used some tighter editing, I expect Dune to win. Both No Time to Die and The Power of the Dog could have cases made for them winning, but, if there was to be an upset, I’d expect it to be Belfast.
Best Comedy/Musical Editing
Cruella (Peter, Tripp)
Don’t Look Up (Wesley, Thomas, RU:Peter)
The French Dispatch
Licorice Pizza
tick, tick…BOOM! (RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Wesley Lovell: Once again, more is better seems to be the name of the game. That favors Don’t Look Up and tick, tick…BOOM!. I give the edge to the Best Picture nominee (one of two on this list).
Peter J. Patrick: Sometimes the most editing wins, which gives Cruella and Don’t Look Up the strongest shots with an edge toward Cruella.
Tripp Burton: We have a rare two Oscar nominees in this category, so it could be a race. Best Picture nominee Don’t Look Up is the favorite, though.
Thomas LaTourette: Don’t Look Up should win this handily. It is one of the only two Oscar nominees in this group, but probably has more support than tick, tick…BOOM!, which seemed a deserving but surprising nominee.
Best Animation Editing
Encanto (Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Luca (RU:Peter)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Raya and the Last Dragon
Sing 2 (RU:Wesley)
Wesley Lovell: The Mitchells vs. the Machines is the most action-oriented of the five, so I’ll give it the edge, though Sing 2 has a lot more action than its predecessor, which could help it.
Peter J. Patrick: Disney’s Encanto is the likely winner with their Disney-Pixar’s Luca trailing.
Tripp Burton: Encanto fever is spreading quickly and should reign here.
Thomas LaTourette: Encanto has turned into a juggernaut when it comes to momentum, and I think that should carry over to a win here, though The Mitchells vs. the Machines has stayed a critical favorite and will give it some competition.
Best Documentary Editing
Flee (RU:Peter)
The Rescue (Tripp, RU:Wesley)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Wesley, Peter, Thomas, RU:Tripp)
Val
The Velvet Underground (RU:Thomas)
Wesley Lovell: The sheer amount of footage, and old footage at that, should give Summer of Soul the edge.
Peter J. Patrick: Probably the highly regarded Summer of Soul over the acclaimed Flee, but either one could win.
Tripp Burton: I don’t know how you don’t give this to Summer of Soul, which even got a BAFTA Editing nomination, for the mere footage that it assembled.
Thomas LaTourette: It had sounded like Summer of Soul came close to an Oscar nomination for editing, so it seems likely to win here. The Rescue, with its mixture of footage from the time of the event and recreations of some of the dives, is its main competition.
