Rania Stephan in 2023

Rania Stephan (Arabic: رانية اسطفان; born 1960) is a Lebanese filmmaker and video artist. She is best known for her first feature film The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (2011).

Early life and education

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Stephan was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She is fluent in Arabic, French and English. She completed her French Baccalaureate at the French Protestant College in Lebanon in 1978. She then left Lebanon to escape the civil war.[1] She received her bachelor's degree in Cinema Studies from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia in 1982 and her master's degree in Cinema Studies from Paris VIII University, France, in 1986.[2] Stephan moved to France in 1983, and returned to Beirut in 2005.[1]

Stephan worked as a camera person, a film editor and a sound engineer. She was also first assistant director to renowned film directors like Simone Bitton and Elia Suleiman.[3] Stephan worked in documentaries and in experimental videos. Her work is influenced by French political cinema.[1][4]

Lebanon/War (2006)

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Lebanon/War is a documentary about events that occurred during the war between Lebanon and Israel in the summer of 2006 and its aftermath. Stephan took to the streets, met people and recorded their testimonies and thoughts on the war. She then edited the stories into a 47 minute long documentary.Vorlage:Fact

The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (2011)

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The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni is Stephan's first feature film. It is about the Egyptian movie star Soad Hosni.[5] The film is composed entirely of VHS footage of Hosni's films that Stephan edited from pirated materials. The "three disappearances" refer to the mysterious way that Soad Hosni died. Hosni was found dead on the pavement in front of her apartment in London in 2001. Her death was ruled a suicide, despite some rumors claiming that Hosni was murdered.[6] In this film, Stephan focuses on the representation of women, sexual politics and gender relations.[6] The film won the 2011 Best Arabic Documentary Filmmaker Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2012 Chicago International Film Festival and at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival.Vorlage:Fact

Filmography

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  • Tribe (1993)
  • Attempt at Jealousy (1995)
  • Baal & Death (1997)
  • train-trains (Where’s the Track?) (1999)
  • Arrest at Manara (2003)
  • Kimo the Taxi (2003)
  • Wastelands (2005)
  • Lebanon/War (2006)
  • Smoke on the water, 7 X El Hermel (2007)
  • DAMAGE, for Gaza “The land of Sad Oranges” (2009)
  • The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (2011)
  • Memories For A Private Eye (2015)[7]
  • RIOT: 3 Movements (2017)
  • Double-Cross (2018)
  • Threshold (2018)[8]
  • In Fields of Words: Conversations with Samar Yazbek (2022)

Exhibitions

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Solo exhibitions

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  • Rania Stephan. On Never Being Simply One, Marfa' Projects, Beirut, 2016[9]

Group exhibitions

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References

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Vorlage:Reflist

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  1. a b c Elisabeth Stoney: ArtAsiaPacific: Life On Screen Rania Stephan. In: artasiapacific.com. Archiviert vom Original am 27. März 2016; abgerufen am 29. März 2016.
  2. Rania Stephan | Who is she in Lebanon. In: whoisshe.lau.edu.lb. Abgerufen am 9. März 2016.
  3. Rania Stephan | More Europe. In: www.moreeurope.org. Abgerufen am 29. März 2016.
  4. Laura U. Marks: Hanan Al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image. MIT Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-262-02930-8, S. 3 (englisch, google.com).
  5. Chanpreet Khurana: A splice of reel life. In: Live Mint. Abgerufen am 31. März 2016.
  6. a b Rania Stephan's The Three Disappearances of Souad Hosni | Bidoun. In: Bidoun. Abgerufen am 9. März 2016 (amerikanisches Englisch).
  7. Jim Quilty: Today's Arab art and the Sound of a Closing Door. In: The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. 17. Februar 2015, abgerufen am 31. März 2016.
  8. CLOSE-UP: HINGE POLITICS. In: www.artforum.com. Abgerufen am 22. März 2019 (amerikanisches Englisch).
  9. Rania Stephan. On Never Being Simply One. Marfa' Projects, 2016, abgerufen am 10. Oktober 2019.
  10. Beirut Lab: 1975(2020). University of California, 2019, abgerufen am 10. Oktober 2019.