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

Faten Hamama (1931-2015) is known 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 desired has hardly been examined in writings about her career.

This video essay is an attempt to slowly change that. A look at her filmography shows her sharing scenes of kissing and intimacy with many more male lead actors, and not just with Omar Sharif (they were married between 1955-1975).

Neither a femme fatale, nor a typical girl next door, but a layered and more nuanced depiction of Arab womanhood, femininity and sensuality.

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