Darine Hotait

Darine Hotait is an American Lebanese writer and film director. She is the founder of Cinephilia Productions, an independent film production house in New York City. She received her MFA in screenwriting and directing from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California. Darine has written and directed a number of narrative short films that went on to receive prestigious awards at international film festivals such as 'I Say Dust' (Winner of 4 awards and selected at over 30 international film festivals), 'Beirut Hide and Seek' (Winner of 8 awards and selected at over 20 international film festivals), 'The Far Side of Laughter' (Distributed by the Journal of Short Films)...and more.

Her screenplays were made top 5 finalists at the Hearst Screenwriting Competition and the Sundance Sloan Competition.

Her latest work is mainly focused on reviving the science fiction genre in Arab cinema. She is currently in the process of making her science fiction short film 'Orb', a proof of concept of her feature film 'Symphony of a Flood'.

Aside from screenwriting and directing, Darine is a published playwright and short story writer. Her work appeared in various publications across the Middle East, the US and the UK.

She resides in New York.