Rania Stephan (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: رانية اسطفان; born 1960) is a Lebanese

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...

ist. She is best known for her first feature film ''The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni'' (2011).

Early life and education

Stephan was born in

Beirut, Lebanon Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. She is fluent in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. She completed her

French Baccalaureate French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

at the French Protestant College in Lebanon in 1978. She then left Lebanon to escape the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. She received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Cinema Studies Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for unde ...

from

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1982 and her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Cinema Studies from

Paris VIII Paris 8 University (), or usually the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis or Paris 8, is a public university in the Greater Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is base ...

University,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in 1986. Stephan moved to France in 1983, and returned to Beirut in 2005.

Career

Stephan worked as a camera person, a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

and a

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

. She was also first

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

to renowned film directors like

Simone Bitton Simone Bitton (; born January 3, 1955) is a French-Moroccan documentary filmmaker. Her films have been nominated for or won the César Award, the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film Award, and the Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize ( ...

and

Elia Suleiman Elia Suleiman (, ; born 28 July 1960) is a Palestinian film director and actor. He is best known for the 2002 film ''Divine Intervention'' (), a modern tragicomedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cann ...

. Stephan worked in

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

and in

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

videos. Her work is influenced by French political cinema.

''Lebanon/War'' (2006)

''Lebanon/War'' is a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about events that occurred during the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

between

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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.

''The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni'' (2011)

''The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni'' is Stephan's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

. It is about the Egyptian movie star

Soad Hosni Soad Mohammad Kamal Hosny (, ; 26 January 1943 – 21 June 2001) was an Egyptian actress. She was known as the "Cinderella of the Screen" and one of the most influential actresses in the Middle East and the Arab world. She is generally regarded a ...

. The film is composed entirely of

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2001. Her death was ruled a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

, despite some rumors claiming that Hosni was murdered. In this film, Stephan focuses on the representation of women, sexual politics and gender relations. The film won the 2011 Best Arabic Documentary Filmmaker Award at the

Doha Tribeca Film Festival The Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) was an annual five-day film festival that was organised from 2009 to 2012 to promote Arab and international films, and to develop a sustainable film industry in Qatar. One of Qatar's largest entertainment event ...

, was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2012

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

and at the 2012

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

Filmography

* ''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) *''RIOT: 3 Movements'' (2017) *''Double-Cross'' (2018) *''Threshold'' (2018) *''In Fields of Words: Conversations with Samar Yazbek'' (2022)

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* Rania Stephan. On Never Being Simply One, Marfa' Projects, Beirut, 2016

Group exhibitions

* Beirut Lab: 1975(2020) Curated by Juli Carson and Yassmeen Tukan, University Art Gallery,

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephan, Rania Living people 1960 births Lebanese filmmakers Lebanese contemporary artists Artists from Beirut La Trobe University alumni Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis alumni Lebanese emigrants to France Lebanese women artists 20th-century women artists 20th-century Lebanese artists 21st-century Lebanese women artists 21st-century Lebanese artists Women video artists