American Cinema Editors (ACE) has elected a new leadership team. Kevin Tent, ACE is the new president succeeding Stephen Rivkin, ACE who has served in that capacity since 2016. Per ACE bylaws, Tent will serve a two-year term. 

Lillian Benson, ACE was re-elected as secretary, with Anita Brandt Burgoyne, ACE, Dorian Harris, ACE, Sabrina Plisco, ACE, Tatiana Riegel, ACE, Andrew Seklir, ACE and Rivkin all serving on the board of directors, alongside associate board members Mark Helfrich, ACE, Michael Ornstein, ACE, Terilyn Shropshire, ACE and Troy Takaki, ACE. Board members are also elected to two-year terms.  They will all be joining the existing board of Carol Littleton, ACE as VP, Stephen Lovejoy, ACE as treasurer, and board members Jacqueline Cambas, ACE, Maysie Hoy, ACE, Bonnie Koehler, ACE and Mary Jo Markey, ACE.  The election results were revealed at the ACE holiday party, held virtually this year due to the pandemic.

“Kevin has always been a fierce supporter of ACE, first as a board member and now as president.  We could not be more excited and proud of this new leadership team that ACE members have elected and look forward to working together to continue with our organization’s mission statement of illuminating and advancing the craft of film editing,” stated ACE executive director Jenni McCormick.  

Tent has been a professional film editor for nearly 30 years.  He is best known for his long time collaboration with director Alexander Payne.  Their first project together was Payne’s Sundance hit “Citizen Ruth,” starring Laura Dern, followed by the critically acclaimed hit “Election” starring Reese Witherspoon (for which Tent earned his first ACE Eddie Award nomination).  Tent received his second ACE nomination for “About Schmidt” starring Jack Nicholson and his third for “Sideways” starring Thomas Haden Church, Paul Giamatti, Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen.  In 2011 Tent was nominated for both an ACE Eddie and an Academy Award®  for his editing on “The Descendants,” starring George Clooney. Tent won the ACE Eddie Award for best edited dramatic film that year. He was also nominated for an ACE award for his work on “Nebraska” in 2014 and worked with Payne on his most recent film “Downsizing” starring Matt Damon.  

After attending Los Angeles City College’s film school, Tent got his first break working for legendary producer Roger Corman cutting classic films like “Emmanuelle 5” and “Not of This Earth.”  While continuing to hone his skills in the throws of B-movies, Tent also tapped into the emerging U.S. independent film movement cutting the underground hit “Guncrazy” directed by Tamra Davis and the aforementioned “Citizen Ruth” by Payne.

Some of Tent’s other credits include “Blow,” the late Ted Demme’s drug epic starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, James Mangold’s “Girl Interrupted” starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, “Disconnect” directed by Henry Alex Rubin, “Welcome To Me” starring Kristin Wiig and “Parched” a foreign-language film by Indian director Leena Yadav.  More recently Tent’s credits include “Otherhood” directed by Cindy Chupack, and the heart warming hit “The Peanut Butter Falcon” starring Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson and Zack Gottsagen. Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, aka Nilson Schwartz, directed “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” Tent has also collaborated on several projects with director Barry Sonnenfeld, has worked with Nancy Meyers and Martin Scorsese on his short film “The Audition.” In addition to his association with ACE, Tent is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.