Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” the embattled musical crime thriller about gender confirmation, was the surprise Feature Dramatic Editing winner, Friday night at the 75th annual ACE Eddie Awards (held at UCLA’s Royce Hall).
Besting such contenders as “Conclave” and “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Pérez” editor Juliette Welfling cut against the start and stop rhythms of traditional musicals with sequences that flowed naturally from dialogue to musical moments in this operatic fever dream, starring Best Supporting Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña and controversial Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón.
In addition, Jon M. Chu’s maximalist “Wicked” musical beat out Sean Baker’s Oscar-winning “Anora” in the comedy category. Editor Myron Kerstein excelled at handling the tonal shifts and blending different genres to explore the volatile friendship between Elphaba/the Wicked Witch (Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda/Glinda the Good Witch (Oscar-nominated Ariana Grande).
Originally set for January 18, the ceremony was postponed because of the L.A. wildfires and pivoted from a Black-Tie, red carpet event to a “Come as You Are” community-building fundraiser, with a portion of ticket sales being donated to wildfire relief.
Josh Greenbaum’s “Will & Harper,” the cross-country road trip about friendship and transition, starring Will Ferrell and writer Harper Steele, won the Eddie for Documentary Feature. TV winners included “Shōgun,” “Baby Reindeer,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” and “Frasier.”
Meanwhile, Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot” beat out Gints Zilbalodis’ Oscar-winning “Flow” for the animated feature Eddie, which went to editor Mary Blee for deftly cutting the sci-fi wilderness adventure about Roz (Lupita Nyong’o).
As previously announced, the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award went to “Wicked” director Chu and film editors Maysie Hoy (“Nashville”) and Paul Hirsch (the Oscar-winning “Star Wars”) earned Career Achievement Awards.
Below is the full list of 2025 ACE Eddie Awards winners:
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (Drama, Theatrical):
Emilia Pérez – Juliette Welfling
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (Comedy, Theatrical):
Wicked – Myron Kerstein, ACE
BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
The Wild Robot – Mary Blee
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Will & Harper – Monique Zavistovski, ACE
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Chimp Crazy (102 – Gone Ape)
Evan Wise, ACE
Charles Divak, ACE
Adrienne Gits, ACE
Doug Abel, ACE
BEST EDITED MULTI-CAMERA COMEDY SERIES:
Frasier (207 – My Brilliant Sister) – Russell Griffin, ACE
BEST EDITED SINGLE CAMERA COMEDY SERIES:
What We Do in the Shadows (603 – Sleep Hypnosis)
Liza Cardinale, ACE
Dane McMaster, ACE
BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES:
Shogun (110 – A Dream of A Dream)
Maria Gonzales, ACE
Aika Miyake
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (NON-THEATRICAL):
Road House
Doc Crotzer, ACE
BEST EDITED LIMITED SERIES:
Baby Reindeer (104 – Episode 4)
Peter H. Oliver
Benjamin Gerstein
BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES:
Welcome to Wrexham (305 – Temporary)
Tim Wilsbach, ACE
Steve Welch, ACE
Michael Brown
Michael Oliver
Tim Roche
Matt Wafaie
Jenny Krochmal
Mohamed el Manasterly
BEST EDITED VARIETY TALK/SKETCH SHOW OR SPECIAL:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (1103 – Boeing)
Anthony Miale, ACE
BEST EDITED ANIMATED SERIES:
X-Men ’97 (105 – Remember It)
Michelle McMillan
