Film Editing as a Cross-cultural Practice
Film Editing as a Cross-cultural Practice
In this roundtable discussion, acclaimed film editors Mary Stephen and Matthieu Laclau sit down with Li Cheuk-to, Curator-at-large of Hong Kong Film and Media, M+, for an in-depth conversation about how editing transcends cultural barriers. Hong Kong-born Stephen, a long-term collaborator of director Éric Rohmer, and French editor Laclau, whose credit includes numerous award-winning Chinese films, share insights into filmmaking shaped by different cultural traditions and approaches to editing.
This event is conducted in English.
About the Speakers
Mary Stephen (b. 1953, Hong Kong), currently based in Paris, is widely regarded as one of the two most internationally acclaimed film editors from Hong Kong. She was the editor and occasional co-composer on the films of French New Wave director Éric Rohmer. Over the past 20 years, she has edited fiction and documentary films from several continents, including Yoïchiro Okutani’s Nude at Heart (2021), Ann Hui’s Our Time Will Come (2017), Seren Yüce’s Majority (2010), and Du Haibin’s 1428 (2009). Stephen’s multifaceted talents are also evident in her own directorial works, which include Ombres de soie (1978), Vision from the Edge: Breyten Breytenbach Painting the Lines (1998, IDFA), and Palimpsest: The Story of a Name (2025).
Portrait of Mary Stephen. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Matthieu Laclau (b. 1983) is a French editor who has been working in China since 2008. He studied Film Theory at Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle and received his Master’s degree in 2008. In 2013, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Editing for A Touch of Sin (2013) directed by Jia Zhang-ke, and in 2017, the Chlotrudis Award for Best Editing for Mountains May Depart (2015), also directed by Jia Zhang-ke.
Portrait of Matthieu Laclau. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Both films were selected for the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, with A Touch of Sin winning Best Screenplay. Since then, he has edited Ash Is Purest White (2018) by Jia Zhang-ke (Cannes Competition), The Wild Goose Lake (2019) by Diao Yinan (Cannes Competition), Nina Wu (2019) by Midi Z (Cannes Un Certain Regard), Only the River Flows (2023) by Wei Shujun (Cannes Un Certain Regard), and Meeting with Pol Pot (2024) by Rithy Panh (Cannes Premiere).