The Night between Ali and I, 2015. 9 min
From a Distance, 2014. 9 min
The night between Ali and I (co-directed with Nadia Hotait) is a fictional reenactment of a key event in Lebanese and Levantine contemporary History: the highjacking of 39 hostages at the Bank of America in Beirut, on October 18th, 1973. Shot in Beruit, this video triptych renews the assault carried out by four armed young men from the Lebanese Socialist Revolutionary Movement, and their demands for the Arab fight against Imperialism.
From a Distance is a collaborative film made with Denmark-based Iraqi filmmaker Rania Tawfik. Speaking to exile, the film follows Rania and Laila on a journey to find what once was lost. Both daughters of the Arab diaspora reaching their thirties, they reflect on their shattered memories of childhood, swimming pools, war and diaspora as they weave through deserted landscapes.
Laila Hotait Salas Laila Hotait Salas is an award winning Lebanese-Spanish filmmaker and artist. In her work, she explores narrative through films, installations, sound art and photographs, across a historical background against which the characters should find their place in the world. Her approach to filmmaking is concerned with an image that blurs the line between documentary and fiction. Hotait recieved her MFA in Filmmaking at San Francisco State University as a Fulbright fellow, and holds a Ph.D. in Media Studies from the University Carlos III Madrid, where she received the Research in Humanities University Award. Hotait’s films have been supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Sundance Documentary Fund Program, Screen Institute Beirut, Cine Qua Non Lab, Berlinale Talents, the Doha Film Institute and the CPH:LAB/Danish Film Institute. Laila Hotait’s hybrid feature documentary ‘Crayons of Askalan’ was screened in festivals, including Hot Docs, Doha Tribeca Film Festival, CPH:DOX and DocsDF; and the curated VOD platforms MUBI and BBC Arabic. Hotait has worked as a University teacher and international consultant for film projects and filmmakers in Canada, China, Spain and Mexico. She is the Head of Film Department and Original content at La Rueda Productions in Mexico.
lailahotait.com