Darine Hotait | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American-Lebanese |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2008 – present |
Darine Hotait is an American film director and writer of Lebanese descent. [1] [2] She is best known for her short films, I Say Dust, Like Salt, Tallahassee, and Sherman. [3] [4]
Darine Hotait was born in Beirut, Lebanon. At an early age, her family emigrated to the United States of America. [5] She graduated with an MFA in screenwriting and film directing from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. [6] In 2010, she founded Cinephilia Productions, a New York-based film incubator and production company. [7]
Hotait's short film, I Say Dust, starring Hala Alyan and Mounia Akl, which premiered at Outfest in 2015. [8] The film was banned from screening in some Arab countries for portraying a kiss between two women on screen. [3] In 2018, her short film, Like Salt, starring Jessica Damouni and Ben Williams, received the Best Film Award at the Oscar-qualifying Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Festival. [9] In 2019, she received the New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award. [10]
In 2021, Hotait released her film, Tallahassee starring Cherien Dabis, Hala Alyan, and Samia Halaby, premiered at the 10th Blackstar Film Festival and was released exclusively by The New Yorker in January 2022. [11] [4] She directed the music video of Grammy-nominated album 'ONA' by singer Thana Alexa, premiered on Forbes. [12] In 2022, She released her film Sherman, starring Zainab Jah, premiered at the 30th Pan African Film Festival. [13]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | The Far Side of Laughter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2009 | Command or Truth | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2011 | Beirut... Hide & Seek | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2013 | Ash | Yes | ||
2015 | I Say Dust | Yes | Yes | |
2018 | Like Salt | Yes | Yes | |
2021 | Tallahassee | Yes | Yes | |
2022 | Sherman | Yes |
Year | Title | Director | Writer |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | ONA | Yes | Yes |
Year | Result | Award | Category | Work | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Nominated | Outfest | Outstanding Narrative Short Film | I Say Dust | [8] |
2018 | Nominated | Marfa Film Festival | Best Short Film | Like Salt | |
Nominated | Carthage Film Festival | Narrative Short Film | [14] | ||
2021 | Nominated | Woodstock Film Festival | Best Short Film | Tallahassee | [4] |
Nominated | El Gouna Film Festival | Short Films Competition | [15] | ||
Won | Boston Palestine Film Festival | Best Narrative Short | [16] | ||
Won | Mizna | Best Narrative Short | [17] |
Nouhad Wadie Haddad, known as Fairuz, is a Lebanese singer. She is widely considered an iconic vocalist and one of the most celebrated singers in the history of the Arab world. She is popularly known as "The Bird Of The East," "The Cedar Of Lebanon," "The Moon's Neighbor", and “The Voice Of Lebanon”, among others.
Najwa Karam is a Lebanese multi-platinum singer, producer, fashion icon, TV personality and songwriter. Nicknamed Shams el-Ghinnieh, Karam is noted for her powerful Mawwal-skilled vocals. She has gained an international audience due to her distinct blend of traditional Lebanese music and contemporary sounds which has contributed to the spread of the Lebanese dialect in Arabic Music. Having sold tens of millions of records, Najwa Karam is the best selling recording Arabic language singers. She has sold over 60 million records worldwide, and she became the highest selling artist in 1999, 2008, and 2011. In 2023, Karam boasts a social media following of nearly 40 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and X. Karam was mentioned on Forbes 50 Over 50: Europe, Middle East and Africa 2023. She continues to frequently perform throughout the Arab world and internationally.
Hala Basha-Gorani is an American journalist, working as a correspondent for NBC News. Previously she was an anchor and correspondent for CNN International, based in London. She is also a war correspondent. She previously anchored CNN's Hala Gorani Tonight weeknights at 8 p.m. CET. Gorani co-hosted Your World Today with Jim Clancy until February 2009 and then International Desk until April 2014 from CNN's Atlanta headquarters.
Sabah was a Lebanese singer and actress, specializing in mawwal, a popular genre of traditional music in the Middle East. She performed in many Egyptian movies and songs. She resided in the vibrant neighborhoods of Wadi Chahrour, Baabda, acquiring the nickname "Al-Shahroura" or "Shahruret el-Wadi" both in reference to her origins and her strong and rhythmic voice.
Nadine Labaki is a Lebanese and Canadian actress, director, and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her filmmaking career began in 2007 after the release of her debut film, Caramel, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She is known for demonstrating everyday aspects of Lebanese life and covering a range of political issues such as war, poverty, and feminism. She is the first female Arab director to be nominated for an Oscar in the category for Best Foreign Language Film for her third directorial effort, Capernaum (2018).
The cinema of Lebanon, according to film critic and historian Roy Armes, is the only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to a national cinema. Cinema in Lebanon has been in existence since the 1920s, and the country has produced more than 500 films.
Annemarie Jacir is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, and producer.
Darine Hamze is a Lebanese actress, director and producer. She has been working in film, television and theatre since 2001 in The Middle East and Europe. Hamze won the Best Actress Award in Oran International Film Festival 2017 for her role in film Nuts.
Andrea Janakas is an American writer and director from Boston, Massachusetts.
The Book of Law is a 2009 Drama, Comedy, Romance Iranian film directed by Maziar Miri, written by Mohammad Rahmanian, and produced by Mohsen AliAkbari. The film is about a Lebanese woman and convert to Islam struggling with the contrast between the behaviour of Iranian Muslims and the principles of Islamic religion. The film stars Parviz Parastui and Darine Hamze.
Eliza Hittman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award—both for best screenplay.
Jenée LaMarque is an American writer and director, known for The Pretty One (2013), Spoonful (2012) and The Feels (2018).
Starring Julia is a 2012 Lebanese short film written and directed by Elie Fahed. The short film premiered at the Beirut International Film Festival in 2012 where it got the Orbit Special Jury Prize, and traveled the world after it, taking part in the Baghdad International Film Festival, Menar Film Festivalin Bulgaria, Mizna's 8th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, FICMEC 5th edition, Notre Dame University – Louaize International Film Festival, Outbox Film Festival, and won the "Best Student Short Film" award at the Monaco Charity Film Festival in 2013.
Saleem Yacoub Saleem Haddad is an author, filmmaker and aid worker of Iraqi-German and Palestinian-Lebanese descent, whose debut novel Guapa was published in 2016.
Rola Nashef is an American director, screenwriter, producer and multimedia artist based in Detroit. She is best known for her award-winning film, Detroit Unleaded.
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige are Lebanese filmmakers and artists. Their work includes feature and documentary films, video and photographic installations, sculpture, performance lectures and texts.
Hala Alyan is a Palestinian-American writer, poet, and clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, addiction, and cross-cultural behavior. Her writing covers aspects of identity and the effects of displacement, particularly within the Palestinian diaspora. She is also known for acting in the short films I Say Dust and Tallahassee.
Mizna is a nonprofit arts organization in St. Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1999, Mizna describes itself as "a critical platform for Arab and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) film, literature, and art." Since 1999, Mizna has published a biannual literary journal, Mizna: SWANA Literature + Art. Since 2003, Mizna has produced the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival (TCAFF), which became annual in 2013. Throughout its history, Mizna has organized and participated in a variety of arts and cultural programming, including visual art exhibitions, community workshops, drumming and Arabic classes, and local festivals such as Northern Spark. In 2020, Mizna was named Best Nonprofit by City Pages.
Diamand Abou Abooud is a Lebanese actress, working in Europe and the Arab world, specifically Lebanon and Egypt.
Jennifer Tiexiera is an American documentary filmmaker. She is known for directing the films P.S. Burn This Letter Please and Subject.