The Three Disappearances of Souad Hosni

Souad Hosni was a famous Egyptian actress and singer, born in Cairo in 1943, who died by suicide in London in 2001. The Three Disappearances of Souad Hosni is a composition of extracts from eighty-two films she starred in between 1959 and 1991. The title refers to three disappearances: the disappearance of Hosni’s body, the end of the golden age of Egyptian film production, and the gradual abandonment of VHS recording. Rania Stephan’s collage work on this boundless cinematic material offers a singular rewriting of Egyptian cinema, but it is also a documentary on the life and work of a tragic star, a symbol of modern Arab femininity. The raw images are an ode to the VHS tape, which revolutionised the wide circulation of films for home and personal use.