Mary Stephen is a Hong Kong-born, Paris-based filmmaker and editor, best known for her two-decades-long collaboration with Éric Rohmer, and later with various other directors including Ann Hui. This year's HKFFUK spotlights Stephen's career as a director as much as an editor, opening the festival with her latest film, Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, an archival quest into her family history.

When Stephen was 15, her family migrated to Montreal, Canada, where she began making experimental shorts including Labyrinthe (1973), The Great Canadian Puberty Rite (1973), and A Very Easy Death (1975). She soon moved to Paris and directed her impressive debut feature, Shades of Silk (1978), the UK premiere of which we are honoured to present alongside her early shorts. The programme also traces her path as an editor, screening two films she made with Rohmer: The Aviator's Wife (1981), where she began working as assistant editor and appeared in a cameo, and A Summer’s Tale (1996), among many later Rohmer titles she edited through to his final film.

We’re delighted to welcome Mary Stephen in person for the Q&As at this special celebration of her work.