The American Cinema Editors gave out their awards tonight in Hollywood. They choose “Argo” for best dramatic film, “Silver Linings Playbook” for best comedy/musical, and “Brave” for animated feature. “Searching for Sugar Man” won best documentary. And so you see the Oscar race narrow because you have the best edited film, you potentially have the Best Film. Tonight (Sunday) brings the Writers Guild Awards. And then we enter Oscar week. The ACE Awards knock out “Lincoln,” “Les Miz,” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” all great movies. But I think that’s it for that illustrious trio. Oscar ballots must be returned by 5pm on Tuesday February 19th.

A full list of winners follows:

63^RD ANNUAL ACE EDDIE AWARD WINNERS

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC)

Argo

William Goldenberg, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY/MUSICAL)

Silver Linings Playbook

Jay Cassidy, A.C.E. and Crispin Struthers

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (ANIMATED)

Brave

Nicholas C. Smith, A.C.E. & Robert Grahamjones, A.C.E

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE):

Searching for Sugar Man

Malik Bendjelloul

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (TELEVISION):

American Masters – Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune

Pamela Scott Arnold

BEST EDITED HALF-HOUR SERIES FOR TELEVISION:

Nurse Jackie: “Handle Your Scandal” 

Gary Levy

 BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:

Breaking Bad: “Dead Freight”

Skip MacDonald A.C.E.

BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:

The Newsroom: “We Just Decided To (Pilot)”

Anne McCabe, A.C.E.

 BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR TELEVISION:

Hemingway & Gellhorn

Walter Murch, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES:

Frozen Planet: “Ends of the Earth”

Andy Netley & Sharon Gillooly

STUDENT COMPETITION

Michael Smith – AFI

AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS

AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS (ACE) is an honorary society of motion picture editors founded in 1950.  Film editors are voted into membership on the basis of their professional achievements, their dedication to the education of others and their commitment to the craft of editing.

The objectives and purposes of the AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS are to advance the art and science of the editing profession; to increase the entertainment value of motion pictures by attaining artistic pre-eminence and scientific achievement in the creative art of editing; to bring into close alliance those editors who desire to advance the prestige and dignity of the editing profession.

ACE produces several annual events including EditFest (a weekend editing festival in the summer), Invisible Art/Visible Artists (annual panel of Oscar® nominated editors), and the ACEEddie Awards, now in its 63^rd year, recognizing outstanding editing in ten categories of film, television and documentaries. The organization publishes a quarterly magazine, CinemaEditor, highlighting the art, craft and business of editing and editors.

I’m really appalled by a stupid article in today’s New York Post about Oscar voters being old and out of touch. It’s quite the contrary. The Post writer–surprise–had an agenda and went for it. But she obviously knows nothing about the Motion Picture Academy. This is not the Hollywood Foreign Press.

This past December I made two trips to Los Angeles. Each time I went to small receptions, cocktail parties, and screenings for various Oscar-buzzed movies. It is the time of the year when older Academy members whom you don’t ordinarily get to meet– they’re retired, or not going to nightclubs with Lindsay Lohan–get to come and learn what’s happening this year with the Oscars.

These people invariably surprise me. They are sharp, bright, with it. They know all the movies, who’s in what, what every actor and director has done in the past. They can be charming, irascible, curmudgeonly, and supportive. You sit down at a table of white or gray haired folks and they start telling you what they did: danced in MGM musicals, always played the neighbor in Doris Day films, etc. They’ve seen everything, and they have a high standard. The highest.

So I wasn’t surprised a few weeks later, for example, when “Life of Pi” was nominated and so was Ang Lee. The people I’d interviewed in December had loved it. Adored it. What else had they liked? Jennifer Lawrence and”Silver Linings.” They were not so keen on “Les Miserables.” Ditto “Lincoln,” which I thought they’d go for in a big way. They liked the second half of it. Everyone said “Argo” then, and we weren’t listening.

Walter Bernstein was interviewed for the Post piece. I don’t think the writer knew who he was, only that he was the oldest member of the New York branch at 93. Walter, whom I admire greatly, was blacklisted in the 1950s– still a very sore subject. He was accused of being a Communist and had to use other people’s names to get his scripts produced. He was not a Communist. (And who cares if he was?) Aside from Walters’s thoughts on “Silver Linings,” I agree with him. But Walter’s perspective is definitely colored by what was done to him.  The Blacklist remains Hollywood’s lowest moment in history.

As for “buying” Oscars: I think I received a candy bar or something for “Silver Linings.” Contrast that with the massive amount of merchandise accompanying “Lincoln”– books galore, a cookbook, and the CD came in an expensive white box with photo inlays. “Les Miz” also had a book that cost a fortune. There’s a rumor the soundtrack came on an iPod nano. (I wish they’d sent me that!) Luckily, no one sent grenades for “Zero Dark Thirty.”

But back to the age thing: don’t for a minute think the age of Oscar voters means they don’t know what’s going on. This “old” group just devoured the hippest movie of the year, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Everyone who saw it, dug it. I couldn’t believe it when they told me. So there.