The American Cinema Editors (ACE) had their annual awards ceremony last night, and Brokeback Mountain didn't win a damn thing (an investigation is sure to follow). Like the Hollywood Foreign Press, ACE also divides films into dramatic and musical/comedy categories, and taking home the major prizes instead of Brokeback's editors were Hughes Winborne, who edited Crash, and Michael McCusker of Walk the Line. On the nonfiction side, Sabine Emiliani won the best editing for a documentary award for her work on March of the Penguins.

Also recognized at the event were Ron Howard, who for some reason was named filmmaker of the year (was Cinderella Man really that great?), and Ed Abroms and Terry Rawlings (the editor of Blade Runner), who received lifetime achievement awards.

Apparently the Air Bud series isn't enough for the suits at the Humane Society - they want more animal movies, and they want them now! To that end, they've created Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE), a division of the organization that was founded with the express purpose of encouraging "writers, producers and directors to make movies and TV shows featuring story lines about animals." Well, sure. I mean, on some level, we all secretly long for the glory days of Lassie and Old Yeller. Don't we?

In addition to bugging filmmakers about dog movies, ACE will present itself as a sort of animal clearing house to the film industry, providing assistance ranging from fact-checking to story ideas; from script consultation to discounted stock footage. Plus, if the division expands as the Humane Society hopes, it may soon be offering large grants to independent filmmakers - of course, they have to be making animal movies. Still, though, money is money.

I wonder if ACE will have any noticeable impact in the industry. I have to admit that the thought of push for more TV shows and movies with an animal focus sounds sort of insane to me - advocating such a thing is weird by itself, but imagining that an audience exists for these films and shows is a leap not many studios seem likely to make. (And, yes, I've heard of March of the Penguins. I'm thinking that's an exception rather than a grand, new, animal-movie rule.)