This month, the Chicago chapter of the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) held its fourth annual Trailer Park Festival at Dante’s, a bar in the Windy City. The festival features trailers cut by assistant editors from AICE member companies. This year, participants could choose to cut a trailer for one of the following films: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), which won an Academy Award for best editing, Gigli (2003) or Modern Romance (1981).
In past competitions, the participants did not have a choice of films to cut. The previous selections included Chicago, which won an Academy Award for best editing in 2002, Black Hawk Down, which won the Oscar for editing in 2001, and Gladiator, which was nominated for an Oscar in 2000 for best film editing and won best picture.
“We thought, in addition to the Academy Award-winning film, that Gigli and Modern Romance would be fun to choose from,” said Kathryn Hempel, founder of the festival and editor/partner at Cutters, Chicago.
Another twist this year was that the assistant editors could choose to “sell” or “spoof” the movie they chose. Editor, fellow festival organizer and emcee of the event Jeff Landsman of Swell, Chicago, said he approached Hempel at last year’s screening about the spoof option. He noticed that people had done it for fun that year and proposed incorporating it in this year’s competition.
The grand prize winner, Glorily Velez, of Optimus, Chicago, chose to spoof Gigli. The trailer is cut like an old, silent, black-and-white film and opens with the following words on screen: “The studio is proud to present the most engaging story of the year.”
For placing first in the contest, which had 28 entrants, Velez won Avid Xpress Pro, which Avid and Midwest Media Group donated, a $200 gift certificate to Virgin Megastores, $100 in $1 bills, and a Smokey Joe Weber grill. Velez also received the Trailer Park trophy which is passed from winner to winner each year.
The five runners up were Mark Butchko of Optimus; Tim LaDolce, Outsider, Chicago; Jimi Jo Meretzky, Avenue, Chicago; BJ Moore, Cutters; and Michelle Orzechowski, Swell. These five winners each received $200 and Virgin Megastore gift certificates worth $25 each.
The final prize, the Tent City award, is for a winning trailer cut by someone who is not an assistant editor yet. This year Brain Hepner, an intern at Cutters, won that honor and received $50 and a $25 gift certificate to Virgin. Describing this award, Hempel said, “You’re not quite in the trailer park, you’re kind of nearby because they’re not official assistants yet.”
The judges were Masayo Kaneko, Swell; Steve Morrison, Foundation, Chicago; Greg Sunmark, Red Car, Chicago; Jill Bzibziak, Outsider; Tim Kloehn, Optimus; and Nadia Hennrich, Cutters. Hempel removed herself from judging this year to eliminate any implication of impropriety if Cutters were to fare well in the competition.
Next year, Hempel is planning to hold the festival in the summer and hopefully include an outdoor screening for a competition that she said has become the event of the year for editors and assistants. “It’s very validating for people to get recognition for their work, especially with assistants,” she noted. “I think that’s why it’s been successful. It celebrates and acknowledges their work and also pushes them.”