It took Egyptian actor Mona Zaki more than a year's preparation to take on the hardest role of her career -- the iconic singer Umm Kulthum, a legend in the Arab world.

Marwan Hamed's "El Sett" ("The Lady") premiered this week at the Marrakech International Film Festival, where Zaki told AFP about the daunting task she faced.

"I was very scared at the beginning," she said. "I didn't know where to start."

Zaki is one of Egypt's more recognisable actors but her fears were not unfounded.

Half a century after her death, Umm Kulthum remains a towering cultural figure across the region, distinguished by her unmistakable voice, marathon-length performances, and signature scarf and sunglasses.

So telling the story of a woman in a small Nile Delta village in 1898 who grew up to enrapture millions of........

© Al Monitor