Edition 2026
Classics: Éric Rohmer
This year, Film Fest Gent welcomes director and editor Mary Stephen as Guest of Honour for the Classics programme, which is dedicated to the French filmmaker Éric Rohmer. Together with Classics curator Patrick Duynslaegher, she dives into the world of Rohmer.
Stephen and Rohmer forged a unique collaboration that lasted more than 25 years: from 1981 right up to his final film, Les Amours d’Astrée et de Céladon (2007). She took her first step into Rohmer’s world as an assistant editor to Cécile Decugis on La femme de l’aviateur — she even made a brief cameo appearance in it. That initial experience developed into a regular collaboration: she served as Rohmer’s regular editor on, amongst others, three of the four films in the Contes des quatre saisons cycle (Conte d’automne, Conte d’été and Conte d’hiver).
Their bond extended beyond the editing desk. Rohmer composed the music and sound for his films himself, which Stephen in turn performed – a collaboration that was characteristic of their partnership and for which they even coined the pseudonym ‘Sébastien Erms’.
Classics curator Patrick Duynslaegher sits down for a conversation with Mary Stephen, who takes us behind the scenes of Rohmer’s film world and introduces us to the small, close-knit team of which she was a part for many years.
One of Stephen’s own films, Ombres de soie (1978), will also be screened during the festival, in the presence of the director herself.
Their bond extended beyond the editing desk. Rohmer composed the music and sound for his films himself, which Stephen in turn performed – a collaboration that was characteristic of their partnership and for which they even coined the pseudonym ‘Sébastien Erms’.
Classics curator Patrick Duynslaegher sits down for a conversation with Mary Stephen, who takes us behind the scenes of Rohmer’s film world and introduces us to the small, close-knit team of which she was a part for many years.
One of Stephen’s own films, Ombres de soie (1978), will also be screened during the festival, in the presence of the director herself.