By Kristin Marguerite Doidge
“Why do you love editing?” That first question sparked an engaging (and often hilarious) conversation at this year’s American Cinema Editors (ACE) “Invisible Art/Visible Artists” (IAVA) panel held before the Oscars.
The popular annual event—which is celebrating its 26th year and is part of an effort by the editing community to educate professionals, students, and the public at large about the art of editing—was held on March 14 at the Directors Guild of America Theater Complex in Los Angeles, Calif. The Guild sponsored a cheerful reception before and after the panel discussion for the nominees, board members, and invited guests.
Guild President F. Hudson Miller, MPSE introduced the event, which included this year’s Oscar winner Andy Jurgensen, ACE for “One Battle After Another,” as well as the nominees for best film editing: Stephen Mirrione, ACE, for “F1,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie for “Marty Supreme,” Olivier Bugge Coutté for “Sentimental Value,” and Michael P. Shawver for “Sinners.”
Sabrina Plisco, ACE, president of American Cinema Editors and a fellow picture editor, welcomed the nominees to the event and moderated the discussion for the third year in a row.
Answering Plisco’s first question, Bronstein—who co-wrote the script for “Marty Supreme” with Safdie—said, “Editing is the great reward at the end of this whole process because you don’t have to talk to anyone,” before adding, “I have no relationship with wellness, so it’s the closest I get to meditation.”
The pair said they often curse the writers (themselves) and the director (Safdie) once they get to the cutting room.
“The scary thing about writing is it’s infinite,” Safdie said. “With editing, there’s a finite quality to it because it has to end. You know there’s a release date.”
Jurgensen said he thinks of editing as a big puzzle, finding it oddly less frightening than staring at a blank page. Shawver said editing is about finding new layers to storytelling and added that “it’s an art form that’s intertwined with filmmaking.” He said he thinks the best is yet to come as it’s still young and evolving.
For Coutté, who hails from Denmark, editing is an escape from the chaos of life. And Mirrione said he enjoys being the person who gets to be alone with the movie.
Plisco also asked each of the nominees to reflect on how they first found their way into picture editing. Safdie, who also directed “Marty Supreme,” came to editing as a filmmaker, having started making films as a 16 year-old before making several indies, including the 2019 hit “Uncut Gems,” which was co-edited by Bronstein and Safdie’s brother, Benny.
“Editing taught me how to be a director,” he explained. “Editing is filmmaking in many regards.”
Bronstein said he first fell in love with filmmaking at six years old when he saw the 1981 fantasy adventure film, “Time Bandits.” As a teenager, he dreamt of going to Sundance, and later ended up at NYU film school before meeting the Safdie brothers at South by Southwest in 2007. They’ve been collaborating on films ever since.
Mirrione (who won the Academy Award for best editing in 2001 for “Traffic”), Jurgensen, Coutté, and Shawver all discovered a love for editing while in college.
After Shawver enrolled at USC for film school in 2009, he met “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler in a directing class. “There was this guy in class just making things, sometimes with no dialogue, that made you want to cry at the end about race and society,” he said. “And that’s the kind of stuff I wanted to make—things that could say something and change minds and perspectives.” Something told Shawver, ‘I’ve got to talk to this person.’
“Sinners,” which was nominated for 16 Academy Awards this year – a new all-time record – and marked their 15-year partnership together.
When each nominated editor shared a clip from this year’s nominated films, they spoke about the challenges they faced in the edit, their relationships with the director and post teams, VFX, and music, as well as how their individual sensibilities showed up in how they helped shape the final cut. Importantly, they spoke about their assistant editors and their dedication and contributions to the success of each film.
Speaking of success, Plisco said this was one of the most acclaimed groups of Oscar-nominated editors they’d had assembled on one stage, noting that they have collectively earned 96 career awards and more than 400 nominations.
Jurgensen said he first met director Paul Thomas Anderson when he was an assistant editor on “Inherent Vice” in 2014 working under picture editor Leslie Jones, ACE. He then went on to assist Dylan Tichenor, ACE, on Anderson’s acclaimed “Phantom Thread” in 2017. He moved up to editor on “Licorice Pizza” in 2021.
For “One Battle After Another,” Jurgensen showed and discussed the thrilling river hills sequence from the end of the film, which Plisco noted had almost no dialogue, save for a guttural scream at the end. He said he was on location to review footage as it came in. “Paul’s really into dailies, so it was really important for me to be there,” he said, noting that the film was shot in around 100 days in Sacramento and Eureka, California, but was disrupted by the SAG-AFTRA strike part way through.
The hard work behind and in front of the camera paid off. As part of the film’s sweep of the Oscars this year (the film also took home statues for best picture and best director, as well as the inaugural best casting award, among its six wins), Jurgensen started by thanking the editorial crew as he took the stage to accept the award. “You guys are amazing,” he said. “Thank you to Paul – thank you for taking me on this journey and for our collaboration.”
Ultimately, for all the talk of how invisible the art of editing can be—or should be—the fruits of one’s labor of cutting a film is often personal.
Jurgensen said that he wanted to dedicate his award to his aunt Barbara Hall, who was a film archivist for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science’s Margaret Herrick Library for nearly 25 years. “She loved showing me old movies and teaching me about film history,” he said. “I miss her everyday. And I would not be up here if it wasn’t for her and my Uncle Bob. Thank you very much.”
