Faten Hamama’s Kiss, 2025
Video Essay, 9 min

Faten Hamama (1931-2015) is often referred to as “The Lady of the Arab Screen”, celebrated for her depiction of demure yet strong female characters. Apart from the memorable kissing scene between her and Omar Sharif in The Blazing Sun (Youssef Chahine, 1954), her representation as a woman that desires and is desirable hardly gets written about or included in the narrative of a strong Arab woman. 

This video essay is an attempt to slowly change that. Her filmography includes many more scenes of kissing and intimacy with numerous male lead actors. Neither a femme fatale, nor a typical girl next door, but a layered and more nuanced depiction of Arab womanhood and femininity.

Developed during Arab Stardom Mini-Residency in London organised by the Arab British Centre and Safar Film Festival, led by multidisciplinary artist, designer and educator Bahia Shehab in collaboration with scholars Dr Stefanie Van de Peer and Dr Kaya Davies Hayon, inspired by their recently published book, Transnational Arab Stardom.

If you are interested in seeing the video, please send a request to: hind.mezaina@gmail.com