From travel shows for TV to award-winning films like ‘The Breaking Ice’ (2023) and ‘Katya and the Scarlet Sails’ (2012), Hoping Chen is no stranger to helping tell stories that resonate with global audiences
When we think of movies, we typically think of the actors and actresses who starred in the film, or the director who led the project. However, there is a whole army of people who work behind the camera to bring a film to the screen for audiences to enjoy. You only have to think about the many categories, both televised and not televised, that were included at the 96th Academy Awards this month—and how many winners thank the cast and crew of the films they’re in—to have an understanding of how many departments are involved in bringing a movie to life.
One role that is crucial to putting an engaging, entertaining and cohesive story together is the film editor, who works closely with the director on a project to make sure every frame and every beat of the movie is perfect.
Last month, Tatler spoke with Hoping Chen, a Taiwanese film editor and long-time collaborator of Anthony Chen—the Singaporean director behind the Cannes Film Festival and Golden Horse Film Festival awards-winning Ilo Ilo (2013). Hoping talked to us about how she found her place in the film industry, why representation matters throughout production and not just on screen, and Drift, her latest project with Anthony that will be released in the UK later this month.
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When did you first realise film editing is something you could do, and how did you become an editor?
It started quite early, because I started watching films when I was five or six years old with my grandparents. My family loves watching films. Storytelling was always my passion. So I started wanting to be a writer when I was quite young. And when I went to university I was in the mass communications department, and out of all the courses, I loved photography and filmmaking.
I started as a screenwriter and [was] involved with Wonders of the World, which was the first travel TV show in Taiwan. So I travelled around the world for five years to make the show. After that, I felt I needed to do something else, so I became a documentary filmmaker. It was while I was making documentaries that I had my first chance of editing my own documentary. So that’s how I learnt on the job, but I wasn’t really good at it. Later, when I got assigned to make a drama series for another TV company, I realised that editing was a craft I needed to learn. So I decided to go to the National Film and Television School [in the UK], which has the best course focused on film editing.
That’s where you met Singaporean director Anthony Chen and where your collaboration first started?
I met him when we were in our first year, and I cut his first-year film, Hotel 66.
We always see the directors, the actors—but they can’t make a film without us.