ACE Eddie Awards Will Honor John Carpenter as Filmmaker of the Year

The 2027 American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards will, at least a little, be one for horror freaks. John Carpenter will receive the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award. The winners will also be announced in 14 competitive categories recognizing the year’s best film editing achievements in film and television. Bonnie Koehler, ACE, and Christopher Nelson, ACE, will receive ACE Career Achievement awards. Carpenter joins an impressive group of Golden Eddie award recipients including Ang Lee, Jon M. Chu, John Waters, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Kathleen Kennedy, Christopher Nolan, Lauren Shuler Donner, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Vince Gilligan, Alexander Payne, J.J. Abrams, Nancy Meyers, Martin Scorsese, Norman Jewison, Robert Zemeckis, George Lucas, and the Sundance Institute, among many others. “John Carpenter makes movies that get under your skin and stay there,” said ACE president Sabrina Plisco. “‘Halloween,’ ‘The Thing,’ ‘Escape from New York’ — these films have scared, thrilled and shaped generations of audiences and filmmakers alike. Few directors understand rhythm, tension and restraint the way he does, and he has always trusted his editors to help him find it. That collaboration is exactly what this honor celebrates.” As for the company that Koehler and Nelson are joining, past recipients of the ACE Career Achievement Award include some of the best and most beloved editors in the industry, including Arthur Forney, ACE; Robert Leighton; Maysie Hoy, ACE; Paul Hirsch, ACE; Lynne Willingham, ACE; Don Zimmerman, ACE; Lillian Benson, ACE; Richard Chew, ACE; Alan Heim, ACE; Tina Hirsch, ACE; Thelma Schoonmaker, ACE; Janet Ashikaga, ACE; Craig McKay, ACE; Jerrold L. Ludwig, ACE; Mark Goldblatt, ACE; and Leon Ortiz-Gil, ACE, among many others. “Bonnie Koehler and Chris Nelson are editors other editors look up to,” Plisco added. “Bonnie went from American Zoetrope to an Emmy nomination for L.A. Law and an ACE Eddie nomination for ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,’ television’s longest-running primetime drama. Chris cut the finale of ‘Lost,’ one of the most watched and debated hours in television history, and his work on ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Mad Men’ helped define prestige television. Both have given generously to our community.” The 77th Annual ACE Eddie Awards will take place Saturday, February 6, 2027, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Patton Oswalt, a devoted Carpenter fan and a champion of editors, returns to host the evening’s festivities and help toast one of cinema’s true originals. Nominations for the 77th Annual ACE Eddie Awards will be announced on Thursday, January 14, 2027.