John Carpenter to Receive Filmmaker of the Year at ACE Eddie Awards

Filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and composer John Carpenter will receive the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award at the 77th annual ACE Eddie Awards.

Editors Bonnie Koehler and Christopher Nelson will also receive ACE Career Achievement awards during the ceremony, which recognizes the best film editing achievements of the year across film and television. Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt is set to return to host the awards, held on Feb. 6.

Carpenter was largely introduced to audiences in 1978 with “Halloween” and has since gone on to shape the modern horror genre with directing credits that include “The Fog,” “The Thing,” “Vampires,” “Escape from New York” and “They Live.” He composed “Lost Themes” in 2014, as well as “Cathedral” earlier this year.

“John Carpenter makes movies that get under your skin and stay there,” said Sabrina Plisco, the president of ACE. “’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.”

Carpenter joins the ranks of former winners that include Jon M. Chu, John Waters, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Lauren Shuler Donner, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, Vince Gilligan, J.J. Abrams, Nancy Meyers, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas and the Sundance Institute.

Throughout her more than 40-year career, Koehler edited 15 feature films, nine primetime television 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 worked as a producer, director and film editor, working on more than 70 television series, movies and pilots. He received a Primetime Emmy for best editing for the series finale of “Lost,” as well as additional Emmy nominations for “Lost,” “Six Feet Under,” “China Beach,” “Mad Men” and the pilot of “The Greatest American Hero.” Recent credits include “Bates Motel,” “Waco” and “Godfather of Harlem.”

“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.”

Nominations for the 77th Annual ACE Eddie Awards will be announced on Jan. 14.