Nick Hector, professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film, has been named to the American Cinema Editors. (KYLE ARCHIBALD/The University of Windsor)
A University of Windsor professor has been named to the American Cinema Editors (ACE), the most prestigious professional honours society for film editors, becoming the first Canadian educator to receive the distinction.
Nick Hector, an associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film, has been working as a documentary filmmaker and editor for more than 40 years, having worked on more than 170 films worldwide.
“It’s the gold standard,” Dr. Hector said of the 75-year-old honour society. “Getting a phone call from California, and particularly from an organization that represents the best film editors in the world, was pretty amazing.”
Hector is also a member of the British Film Editors (BFE) and an inaugural member of the Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE), making him the first editor to belong to all three.
He described those associations as domestically focused, honouring Canadian and British citizens, whereas the ACE is more international.
“I’m a very proud Canadian, but I think with the ACE reaching out, it felt less like being acknowledged by your friends and community, but by your international peers. It was a huge honour.”
ACE membership is by invitation only, according to its website, and represents the highest standards of character and achievement in the art of film editing. An interview, as well as approval from a panel and the entire membership, is required.
The ACE recognition is based on an editor’s body of work, and Hector believes, in particular, his work with renowned Canadian director Allan King would have gained traction with an American audience.
“Working with him was a dream come true. I had no interest in documentaries growing up, but at a film festival, I saw A Married Couple by Allan King, and it changed my life,” Hector recalled.
When he received a call from King years later, he thought it was a prank by a friend. Despite hanging up the phone, he became King's exclusive editor in his critically acclaimed late-career return to the documentary.
One of their collaborations, ‘Dying at Grace,’ documents the final months of five cancer patients receiving end-of-life care at Toronto Grace Health Centre.
“We sent a camera crew into a palliative care unit for a month, trying to explore the experience of death,” Hector said.
With that film, he explained, he started with 250 hours of footage and worked to pull away what was not needed to get to the heart of the story.
“Allan saw process as an artistic tool in documentary editing. You’re a painter, with an image in your mind and you start with a blank canvas, or you’re a sculptor and you have a big chunk of marble to whittle away and reveal that something,” Hector said.
Hector said he’s attracted to the visceral reality of documentary storytelling and the “backbreaking work” of finding the meaning inside what’s been filmed.
“For a drama, editing is an interpretative art; you’re taking a script and making it come to life, which is beautiful. But for a documentary, the story really starts to form in the editing room. You go out into the world with an idea, and it always throws you a curve. You come back to the editing room, and you write with pictures and sounds,” he explained.
For Hector, the ACE honour is not just a personal milestone, it’s also a chance to give back to his students and the documentary community.
“I hope this inspires our students, and that it will provide some opportunities and resources for them, as well as raise the profile we have as a faculty. The faculty here is fantastic,” Hector said.