DOKU.ARTS
Zeughauskino Berlin
10.09.–12.10.2014

Les Trois disparitions de Soad Hosni

In her excellent compilation film, Rania Stephan looks at the life and many roles of the legendary Egyptian film star Soad Hosni (1943–2001). With clips from over 60 VHS recordings of feature films in which Hosni appeared between 1959 and 1991, the compilation film is a poetic balancing act between biographical fact and speculation. The result is a remix in three acts, with numerous references and reflections about the ‘Cinderella of Egyptian cinema’, who took her own life at the age of 58 in London. With her raw and playful assembly of the selected film sequences, the Lebanese film-maker does more than just invoke the golden age of Egyptian cinema, but rather Hosni‘s roles as a woman, artist and tragic star in the Arab world are made clear in a way that only the cinema can convey.

Rania Stephan

Rania Stephan is a Lebanese-born filmmaker. Her career in film production has been long and diverse. She has worked as a sound engineer, camera editor, first assistant director and producer with renowned filmmakers such as Simone Bitton and Elia Suleiman. Her recent films include Damage: For Gaza, The Land of Sad Oranges (2009), Smoke on the Water, 7 X El Hermel (2007), Lebanon/War (2006), Wastelands (2005), Arrest at Manara and Kimo the Taxi (2003), and Train-Trains (where's the track?) (1999).