Born in Beirut, Darine Hotait is a Lebanese-American writer and film director. She holds an MFA in film directing and screenwriting from Art Center College of Design, California.

Her work explores the politics of identity and displacement, how personal and political histories shape inner life, and emotional dislocation through intimate character-driven storytelling, science fiction, while employing visual components of magical realism. Her work is deeply influenced by her deep commitment to the practice of lucid dreaming.

Her short film, I SAY DUST (2016), premiered at Outfest, won Best Short Film at Med Film Festival in Rome, and was acquired by Sundance Channel, BBC, and AMC Networks. In 2018, she premiered her short film LIKE SALT at HBO and later won the Oscar-Qualifying Best Short Film award at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival and screened at multiple festivals, including Carthage Film Festival.

In 2021, she premiered TALLAHASSEE at the Blackstar Film Festival before being exclusively acquired by The New Yorker. The film screened at over 50 film festivals, including Woodstock, El Gouna Film Festival, and Mizna, where it won the Best Short Film Award. In 2022, she followed with SHERMAN, which premiered at the Pan African Film Festival. 

Later that year, Darine was named on Disney’s List of Directors on the Rise and was awarded the 40 under 40 Arab America Foundation Award for her contributions to the Arab American art and culture and the FFC Award for her creative entrepreneurial achievements.

Darine is an alumnus of the Sundance Rawi Screenwriters' Lab and the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Fellowship. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the New York Council on the Arts Prize, the Jerome Foundation Award, and the North Manhattan Arts Alliance Prize. Her work has received the support of The Sundance Institute, The Independent Film Project, Maison Des Scénaristes, The Royal Film Commission, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Doha Film Institute, and the Ghetto Film Roster.

Darine is also a published author. Her fiction, prose, and stage plays have been published or are forthcoming in The Seventh Wave, Rusted Radishes, Angle Mort, Red Hen Press, and Mizna.

Expanding her artistic reach beyond film, in 2025, Darine made her off-Broadway directorial debut with MOKEB to sold-out audiences in New York City. Following the success, Darine is now adapting the play into a feature-length film that takes place in Iraq.

Darine is now in post-production on her short film LIKE THE TIDE and in development on a feature documentary LAND KEEPERS, supported by the Doha Film Institute.

In 2010, Darine founded Cinephilia Productions — a development studio, talent incubator, and production Company, championing African, Arab, and Southwest Asian storytellers and filmmakers. Under her artistic and executive direction, Cinephilia provided film education to over 2000 filmmakers, developed more than 600 film projects through its development studio and labs, and launched several industry programs in partnership with international film festivals and organizations. 

​Darine resides in New York City.

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