Born and based in Beirut, Lebanon, Rania Stephan graduated in Cinema Studies from Latrobe University, Australia and Paris VIII University, France. She works with still and moving images. She has directed numerous short and medium length videos and creative documentaries, which are notable for their play with genres, and the long-running investigation of the themes of memory, identity, archaeology of the image and the figure of the detective. Anchored in the turbulent reality of her country, her documentaries give a personal perspective to political events. She gives raw images a poetic edge, cutting chance encounters with humour. The work on archival material has also been an underlying enquiry in her art work. Her most recent projects have investigated forgotten images and sounds that haunt the present. By juxtaposing them with new ones, she explores a diversity of meanings, triggering renewed narratives and emotions. She has had solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1, New York, Alt Art Space, Istanbul, Marfa’ Gallery, Beirut, Frieze Art Fair, London; as well group exhibitions at Serpentine Gallery, London, MAXXI, Rome, Sharjah Biennale X, UAE, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris, Sadie Coles, London, among others; and has participated in residency programs at the Serpentine Gallery, London, IASPIS, Stockholm, Camargo Foundation, Cassis, IMéRA - MUCEM Museum, Marseille. Her first feature film, The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni (2011) described as a contemporary classic, was internationally acclaimed and won numerous prizes: Artist’s Prize: Sharjah Biennale 10; Renaud Victor Prize, FID Marseille International Cinema Festival; Best Filmmaker Award, Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Her second feature film: In Fields of Words: conversations with Samar Yazbek (2022) just won BEST FILM at the Villa Medicis International Film Festival and is starting its international tour. She has been appointed “Associate Artist” at the EHESS - The Advanced School for Social Sciences, in Paris France and is a Senior Fellow at the Iméra Foundation, The Institute of Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University, in collaboration with the Mucem Museum in Marseille France. She has worked as editor, camera person and assistant on films with researchers in social sciences and filmmakers, as well as mentor, trainer, artistic advisor and jury in documentary filmmaking for more than 2 decades.
Her art work is represented by Marfa’ Gallery Beirut Lebanon.