Laila Hotait

Laila Hotait is an award-winning Lebanese-Spanish filmmaker, Fulbright scholar, Creative Director and artist whose work has been supported by the Sundance Documentary Fund Program, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Cinema Qua Non Lab, Talents of the Berlinale, the Film Institute of Doha and the CPH: LAB / Danish Film Institute, among other institutions.

Her first film, Crayons of Askalan, and her other audiovisual productions, have been exhibited in over a hundred venues, and the curated V.O.D. platforms MUBI, and BBC Arabic.

Hotait art pieces and performances have been shown in galleries and museums around the world, among them Casa Encendida, Pompidou, Arsenale de Venezia, etc.

Hotait has worked as a consultant for creative campaigns, and has been the creative director of two Amnesty International Mexico Campaigns on women rights: 2019 and 2021, both with an immense social impact.

Hotait is the cofounder of LAAVENTURA, audiovisual productions and FICCIONA, a hub 100% oriented to story development. From there, she has written commissioned scripts for various companies, among them Cinepolis.

Hotait is the author of the book on Lebanese Cinema, We will always have Beirut (2020, Akal) and she has worked as a University Professor and script consultant for film projects and filmmakers in Canada, China, Spain and Mexico.

Corporate Experience

• Founder of Ficciona. Development Lab, 2021

• Creative director of the Amnesty International Campaign against Feminicide in Mexico, 2021

• Scriptwriter for Cinepolis, Mexico, 2019 - 2021

• Creative director of the Amnesty International Campaign against Feminicide in Mexico, 2019

• Head of original Content and Cinema at la Rueda CS Production company, Mexico: supervision of audiovisual projects from script to distribution (series, animation, short films, ad campaigns, etc...) , 2018 - 2019

• Audiovisual Consultant for institutions and private clients, 2018

- Scriptwriter & Consultant for Big People, China

- Audiovisual and Campaign Consultant for Fundación Atentamente, Mexico

- Scriptwriting Developments with the support of the Doha Film Institute & Cine Qua Non Lab, Mexico

• Co-founder of Laaventura audivoisual production company, Madrid & Beirut, 2010

• Director & Script, Remember, 2´30", 2017

• Co-Director & Script, The Night Between Ali & I, short and three-channel  videoinstallation, 9´, 2015

• Co-Director & Script, From a Distance, CPH Dox Lab, 14´, 2014

• Director & Script, Crayons of Askalan, Coproduced by Laaventura and User t-38, 2011

• Co-Director & Producer Luces errantes, for UNRWA, 2010

• Director spot “MÖET, the Movie”, MÖET-CHANDON, 2010

• Director, Scriptwriter and Editor, Absent Spaces, 7’ Fulbright Commission & Instituto de la Mujer, Spain, 2008

• Director, Scriptwriter & Producer: 20 short reportages: Al Jazeera Children’s TV Channel in Spain, 2005 - 2006

• Co-directed with Nadia Hotait, Beirut, coming back to you is not painful, documentary, 12’. Lebanon, 2004

Academic Experience

• Full time Professor Scriptwriting and Directing at Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Audiovisual production; Advanced Scriptwriting & Advanced Filmmaking Courses, Jan 2013 - 2018

• Script consultant and mentor at Primero el Guión/UNAM, Mexico, Nov - Dec 2020

• Workshop on Documentary film production for Taller de Identidad y Pertenencia, Guanajuato International Film Festival, May 2016

• Part time teacher of Film Production and Sound Art at Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Aug -  Dec 2021

• Master Class on Arab Cinema, Professor Rosa Isabel Martínez Lillo´s course, Translation Department, U.A.M., Spain, Nov 2010

• Teaching Assistant Yasha Aginski “Filmmaking, I”; T. A. at Steve Kovacs “Film History, I”; Master Class “Sound for Cinema”, Prof. Jason Jakaitis, all at S.F.S.U., U.S.A., 2008

• May Seminar on Arab Contemporary Cinema, PHD, seminar, Facoltá di Lingue e Letteratura Straniere, Universittá di Ragusa, Italy, May 2005

• Teacher at Instituto Cervantes and Université Jesuite de Saint Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon, 2002 - 2004

Academic Background

• PHD graduated with honors (Cum Laude) in Audiovisual Communication. University Carlos III de Madrid, 2013

• Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking. San Francisco State University, USA, 2007 - 2009

• Master Cultural innovation in the Arab world, graduated with merits.- Dpt. of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (U.A.M.), 2004

• B.A. Arab and Islamic Studies, U.A.M., Spain, 2002