'Arab cinema d´auteur' + film screening Crayons of Askalan (Laila Hotait, Lebanon, 2012)

Dr. Laila Hotait (Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico)

Speaker Biography

Laila Hotait, Ph. D in Media Studies, is a Lebanese and Spanish filmmaker and audiovisual artist. Her audiovisual and sound art work, that ranges from short films to music videos and video art pieces, has been presented at international venues, from Film Festivals to Museums and art galleries in Mexico, Lebanon, Singapore and the United States, among other countries.

Hotait holds a PHD in Audiovisual Communication by the Carlos III University of Madrid, with mention of Cum Laude, and received the Excellence Academic Award for her Dissertation on Lebanese Cinema d´auteur, as a Fulbright grantee, she studied Film directing in San Francisco State University and she holds a bachelors degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies.

In 2010, along with her sister, Nadia Hotait, founded LAAVENTURA a platform that has brought together artists from around the globe to collaborate on various projects. In 2011 she was selected by the prestigious CPHDox Lab as an international emerging film talent and developed a short film essay that is now in distribution. Her first feature film, Crayons of Askalan , a hybrid and creative documentary, has been presented amongst other prestigious venues at Doha Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs!, CPH Dox-Copenhaguen and DocsDF. Her work has been supported by governmental and private institutions such as the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture in association with the Sundance Documentary Institute, the Doha Film Institute and the Danish Film Institute, among others.

Contact

For more information contact convenor: Dr. Marcos Centeno ( mc100@soas.ac.uk ).