AWARD WINNING AUTHOR MICHAEL ONDAATJE TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS ROBERT WISE AWARD FROM THE AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS (ACE)
Award winning author Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) honored by the American Cinema Editors with the Robert Wise Award which recognizes journalists whose work illuminates the craft of editing. Ondaatje is a novelist whose latest work The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing is on the Best Seller List.
(PRWEB) February 1, 2003
Media Contact:
Lea Yardum
Perception PR
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Lea@perceptionpr. com
UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, January 31 – Award-winning author Michael Ondaatje will receive the Robert Wise Award from the American Cinema Editors (ACE) at the organization’s 53rd Annual ACE Eddie Awards on February 23, 2003 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The Robert Wise Award recognizes a journalist whose writing has contributed significantly in elevating public consciousness to the crucial role of editing in the filmmaking process. OndaatjeÂ’s most recent book, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, is a New York Times Bestseller that details his conversations with Murch, whose film and sound editing career includes some of the most iconic films in recent memory: American Graffiti, The Godfather I-III, Apocalypse Now, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The English Patient, among many others.
The prestigious honor has only been handed out once before at the 50th Annual ACE Eddie Awards ceremony. Robert Wise presented the inaugural award to Jack Tucker, A. C.E., a film editor who also served as the editor of the ACE magazine, CinemaEditor for several years. Rather than bestow the honor annually, the ACE Board meets each year to determine if any literary work significant to editing meets the criteria of the Robert Wise Award and, if so, they vote on who will be recognized.
“This was an effortless decision,” says ACE President Tina Hirsch. “Michael Ondaatje’s book captures the spirit of this award perfectly. His most recent work not only chronicles the amazing contributions of Walter Murch to his craft, but illuminates the exciting art of editing and filmmaking as a whole.”
In The Conversations, Ondaatje details discussions that took place with Murch over a period of one year including behind-the-scenes glimpses of the maverick group that became Zoetrope, including Francis For Coppola and George Lucas. There is inside talk on the different working styles of directors like Anthony Minghella, Philip Kaufman and Fred Zinnemann, insight on how a film is put together and how the process of editing in film compares to editing in writing.
Ondaatje is a celebrated novelist whose other titles include Anil’s Ghost, In the Skin of a Lion, Running in the Family, Coming Through Slaughter and The English Patient, the latter made into an Academy Award-winning film, edited by Murch. Although best known as a novelist, Ondaatje’s work also encompasses poetry, memoir and film. His many accolades include Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the Prix medicis, the Governor General’s Award, the Giller Prize and the British Commonwealth’s highest honor – the Booker Prize.
The Robert Wise Award will be presented to Michael Ondaatje at the 53rd Annual ACE Eddie Awards on February 23, 2003 during the black-tie ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. As previously announced, Kathleen Kennedy will be honored with the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award. John Burnett, A. C.E. and Tom Rolf, A. C.E. will receive Lifetime Career Achievement kudos.
Tickets to the ACE Eddie awards ceremony are available by calling the office of the American Cinema Editors at (818) 777-2900.
AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS
The 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.
For additional information on ACE and the ACE Eddie Awards (including photos from past ACE Eddie Awards ceremonies and ACE logos in downloadable format), please visit the ACE website at http://www. americancinemaeditors. com (http://www. americancinemaeditors. com).
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