Directing

Darine Hotait

Known for

Directing

Credits

15 titles

Darine Hotait is a Lebanese/American fiction writer and film director. She has written & directed numerous short films that screened at top festivals such as HBO's Outfest and received multiple Best Short Fiction awards.

Known for

Behind the camera

Baadarane poster
NR

In a small town on Mount Lebanon, a young boy tests God after his mother’s sudden death.

Baadarane

2025

Like Salt poster
NR

While boxing and jazz rely on improvisation, they both have a deep sense of resilience. Hala, an Arab American female boxer in New York City, and Kendrick, an African American jazz musician, improvise their way through a passive-aggressive America. She's Miles Davis in boxing gloves and he's Muhammad Ali refusing to live a lie.

Like Salt

2018

Like Salt poster
NR

While boxing and jazz rely on improvisation, they both have a deep sense of resilience. Hala, an Arab American female boxer in New York City, and Kendrick, an African American jazz musician, improvise their way through a passive-aggressive America. She's Miles Davis in boxing gloves and he's Muhammad Ali refusing to live a lie.

Like Salt

2018

No artwork available
NR

Yara is a Palestinian-American screenwriter in Los Angeles whose online Arabic lessons with Hana, a poet and teacher living in Gaza, blossom into a profound friendship built on shared ambition, humor, and sisterhood. When war suddenly tears them apart, Yara must confront grief, diasporic guilt, and the responsibility of using her voice to ensure Hana’s story is not forgotten.

It's Complicated

2026

No artwork available
NR

Yara is a Palestinian-American screenwriter in Los Angeles whose online Arabic lessons with Hana, a poet and teacher living in Gaza, blossom into a profound friendship built on shared ambition, humor, and sisterhood. When war suddenly tears them apart, Yara must confront grief, diasporic guilt, and the responsibility of using her voice to ensure Hana’s story is not forgotten.

It's Complicated

2026

Beirut... Hide and Seek poster
NR

In 1982 Beirut, the war, up to that point political, becomes an internal family struggle when Jamila discovers her brother's secret queer relationship with his friend Omar.

Beirut... Hide and Seek

2011

Beirut... Hide and Seek poster
NR

In 1982 Beirut, the war, up to that point political, becomes an internal family struggle when Jamila discovers her brother's secret queer relationship with his friend Omar.

Beirut... Hide and Seek

2011

The Far Side of Laughter poster
NR

Trapped in a dark room, a woman starts seeing fantasies from different light holes that appear to her. After realizing that these fantasies are reflections of herself in different stages of her life, the fantasies transform into nightmares.

The Far Side of Laughter

2009

The Far Side of Laughter poster
NR

Trapped in a dark room, a woman starts seeing fantasies from different light holes that appear to her. After realizing that these fantasies are reflections of herself in different stages of her life, the fantasies transform into nightmares.

The Far Side of Laughter

2009

Command or Truth poster
NR

An upper class couple seduce each other by playing truth or dare.

Command or Truth

2009

Command or Truth poster
NR

An upper class couple seduce each other by playing truth or dare.

Command or Truth

2009

No artwork available
NR

On the dayof her release from a psychiatric facility, Mira, an Arab-American woman, attends her grandmother’s birthday in Brooklyn, only to discover that her sister has told everyone she has been on a trip to Florida.

Tallahassee

2021

No artwork available
NR

Like The Tide delves into the transformative bond between Yara and Hana, forged through online Arabic tutoring sessions that begin in early 2023. As their friendship deepens, Yara embarks on a profound journey of self-discovery, drawing strength from Hana’s resilience and unwavering spirit. And, along the way, Yara connects with her cultural roots and finds her own voice.

Like the Tide

—

No artwork available
NR

Sherman tells the story of a black woman who finds herself making an unconventional parenting choice in a society that doubts her potential. In the suburbs of Long Island, Sherman finds herself responsible for her neighbor's son Osman - a 7-year-old Syrian refugee Muslim boy who wakes up to the news of his parents' fatal accident. Osman is left with Sherman with no relatives to care for him. While struggling through her own grief over the loss of her unborn child, Sherman has to care for Osman. With cultural and linguistic barriers, how far will she go to make Osman feel at home?

Sherman

2022

I Say Dust poster
6.0

Two Arab-American women in New York City fall in love, argue home and identity, engage in a chess battle, and express themselves through the power of the spoken word.

I Say Dust

2015