Lifetime Achievement and Career Achievement Award - 2024 Press Release
Toronto, April 8th, 2024 – The Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) is pleased to announce that Mary Stephen, CCE and Gordon McClellan, CCE are the recipients of the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Don Thompson is the recipient for the Career Achievement Award. The CCE will present these awards at the 14th Annual CCE Awards on June 14th, 2024 at the Delta Hotel in Toronto.
Our full list of CCE Award nominees will be announced on April 15! Please visit our website for more information.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Mary Stephen, CCE
Born in Hong Kong, Mary’s family immigrated to Montreal in the 1970s where she graduated from Concordia University. Mary has been living in Paris since the 1980s but navigates between her home in France and work commitments in Canada, Asia, Australia and Africa.
Mary was French New Wave master Eric Rohmer’s chief editor for more than 30 years, starting as assistant to his then-chief-editor Cécile Décugis. When Cécile retired, Mary edited Rohmer’s WINTER’S TALE up to his last feature THE ROMANCE OF ASTREA AND CELADON, and many shorts in-between, collaborating occasionally on the films’ music.
In the last 2 decades, Mary has also been editing, associate-producing and consulting with fiction and documentary filmmakers all over the world. Some of the directors she worked with include Tiffany Hsiung, Michka Säal and Lixin Fan in Canada, Seren Yüce and Hüseyin Karabey in Turkey, Nicole Shafer in South Africa, Du Haibin, Lina Yang in mainland China, and Adam Wong, Jessie Tsang, Amos Wong and Ann Hui in Hong Kong. Mary’s own directorial works include VISION FROM THE EDGE : BREYTEN BREYTENBACK PAINTING THE LINES and THE MEMORY OF WATER. She is currently at work on her new film PALIMPSEST : TRACES OF A NAME, a co-production between 4 countries.
Mary is very active in mentoring and nurturing young filmmakers in many labs and forums. She serves on film festival juries often and has been nominated for numerous editing awards. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was named Chevalier in the Order of Letters and Arts by the French cultural minister in 2018. Last year, Mary was the 2nd recipient of the Fire Horse Award of the Reel Asian Film Festival in 2023.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Gordon Mcclellan, cce
Gord McClellan, CCE has been a Picture Editor in Drama and Documentary for over 50 years. Films he has edited have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Cable ACE (the Cable TV award was later merged with the Emmys), a Gemini and other awards. His work has been seen on ABC, A&E, BBC, CBC, CBS, CTV, Discovery, Disney, Disney XD, Global, Great American Family, Hallmark, HBO, Netflix, NBC, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Showcase, Showtime, Sony, Superchannel, TVO, W and Warner Brother.
Gord edited film and video for two decades, very patiently filing frames of trimmed shots and dealing with multiple degrading generations of video edits. He gratefully leapt at the opportunity to work in non-linear when Lightworks and AVID arrived on the scene.
Highlights of his career include the first five seasons of THE FIFTH ESTATE, several docs with filmmaker John Zaritsky, notably the Oscar-winning, JUST ANOTHER MISSING KID and music documentary TEARS ARE NOT ENOUGH, featuring producer David Foster, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Brian Adams, Geddy Lee and Gordon Lightfoot among many others. TV Series include six seasons of ROAD TO AVONLEA, five Features, two Mini-Series and 31 TV Movies. His focus for the last few years has been Romantic Comedies, a genre he thoroughly enjoys.
Career Achievement Award
Don Thompson
Don Thompson is an experienced leader within the Media & Entertainment industry, known for utilizing his creative and technical skills in problem solving, talent development and networking and collaboration to accelerate growth.
With an entrepreneurial influence, he has helped found or inspire growth and change across a broad range of companies in Vancouver, Toronto and LA including Finale Post (now Picture Shop Vancouver), The Foundation Post (LA), Image Engine VFX (Vancouver), The Eyes Productions and Shooters Production Services (Vancouver & TO). His production experience includes work as an Editor, Post Supervisor, Producer/Director, and Videographer. Don’s creative credits include a wide range of feature, television, commercial, live sports and music, and cutting-edge documentary productions.
He is actively involved in the production community in Vancouver as Chair of the Vancouver Post Alliance (VPA) and board member of both the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) and the Leo Awards, and frequently travels to LA for industry relations and marketing and sales initiatives with the major studios, networks and production companies. Don is passionate about seeing Canada’s production and post production community reach its full potential, and looks forward to continuing to contribute to the success of its talent, crews, production companies and facilities in the years ahead.
About the Lifetime Achievement Award
This recognition is presented to an editor who has elevated the craft of picture editing, has contributed to the editing community and demonstrated a passion for editing.
About the Career Achievement Award
This recognition is presented to a member of the broader film community who has shown great support for Canadian editors and the editorial profession over the course of their career.
About the Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE)
The Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) is a bilingual not-for-profit organization fuelled by the passion of its Canada-wide post-production membership. We are dedicated to meeting the needs of our growing member base through cultivating an environment of learning, community and inclusivity. Ultimately, we are here to showcase our world-class talents at the forefront of the Canadian Film Industry and internationally. Follow us on X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. www.cceditors.ca
Media contact:
Alison Dowler: Operations Manager
Canadian Cinema Editors – info@cceditors.ca
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