A three-time Oscar winner, Thelma Schoonmaker is set to be recognized with another prestigious honor. The “Raging Bull” editor will receive a BAFTA Fellowship at the EE British Academy Film Awards. “The Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games, or television,” Deadline writes.
Previous recipients of the annual honor include Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave.
Best known for her collaborations with Martin Scorsese, Schoonmaker has taken home Oscars for editing “The Departed,” “The Aviator,” and “Raging Bull.” She won BAFTAs for “Goodfellas” and “Raging Bull.” “Silence” and “Snowman” are among the recent credits in her 50-year-plus career.
“I am staggered to be asked to join such an illustrious group as the BAFTA Fellows and particularly moved and honored to be joining two of the most important people in my life – my director, Martin Scorsese, and my late husband, Michael Powell (and his partner Emeric Pressburger) – all of whom have been given BAFTA Fellowships,” Schoonmaker commented.
Added Amanda Berry, OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, “We are thrilled to honor Thelma Schoonmaker with a BAFTA Fellowship, celebrating her career as one of the film industry’s most respected editors responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic and treasured moments.”
Women accounted for 21 percent of editors working on the top 250 highest-grossing films of 2018, according to research from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film. The editing category at the upcoming Oscars is comprised entirely of male nominees.
The 2019 EE British Academy Film Awards will take place on February 10.