ACE Taps Carpenter, Koehler, Nelson For 2027 Honors

The American Cinema Editors will hand out its top film honors on Feb. 6, naming filmmaker John Carpenter as the recipient of the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award at the 77th annual ACE Eddie Awards.

Carpenter, who writes, directs, produces and scores his work, first broke through with audiences in 1978 with "Halloween." His directing credits include "The Fog," "The Thing," "Escape from New York," "Vampires" and "They Live." On the recording side, he released "Lost Themes" in 2014 and "Cathedral" earlier this year.

ACE president Sabrina Plisco announced the award and said Carpenter "makes movies that get under your skin and stay there." Plisco said few directors work with rhythm, tension and restraint the way he does, and that he has always trusted his editors. "That collaboration is exactly what this honor celebrates," she said.

The ceremony also marks career work by editors Bonnie Koehler and Christopher Nelson, who will each receive an ACE Career Achievement award. Koehler has spent more than 40 years in cutting rooms across 15 feature films, nine primetime series and eight movies-of-the-week. Her credits include "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," "Poltergeist," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "L.A. Law."

Nelson has served as producer, director and editor on more than 70 series, movies and pilots. He won a Primetime Emmy for cutting the series finale of "Lost" and picked up further nominations for "Lost," "Six Feet Under," "China Beach," "Mad Men" and the pilot of "The Greatest American Hero." His recent credits include "Bates Motel," "Waco" and "Godfather of Harlem."

Plisco said both editors are admired by their peers. She noted that Koehler moved from "American Zoetrope" to an Emmy nomination for "L.A. Law" and an ACE Eddie nomination for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," which she called television's longest-running primetime drama. Plisco said Nelson cut the finale of "Lost," one of the most watched and debated hours in television history, and that his work on "Six Feet Under" and "Mad Men" helped define prestige television. "Both have given generously to our community," she said.

Patton Oswalt returns as host. ACE will announce its nominations on Jan. 14. Past recipients of the Filmmaker of the Year award include Jon M. Chu, John Waters, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas.