Victoria Mercanton
Victoria Mercanton, or Victoria Spiri-Mercanton, was a French film editor and director, born Viktoria Aleksandrovna Pozner on 25 January 1911, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, active from the 1930s to 1970s.
Known as Toto, she was a frequent collaborator on the films of Roger Vadim since his directorial debut in 1956 with And God Created Woman.
After surviving a couple of disastrous fires of nitrate film in the editing suite - including one which claimed the life of a director sitting next to her — Mercanton successfully lobbied the government to legislate that the French film industry switch to safety film by the mid-1950s. She flippantly explained to Vadim, "You understand, I wanted to be able to smoke my Gauloises while working."
Family
Daughter of Russian Jews Aleksandr and Elizaveta Pozner. Her family fled Soviet Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.- Husband — film editor Roger Spiri-Mercanton
- Brother — Vladimir Aleksandrovich Pozner
- Nephew — Vladimir Pozner