Biography
Motaz H Matar is an award-winning film and television director and screenwriter, holding an MFA degree in Cinematic Arts and an additional Master of Arts degree in serial storytelling from the International Film School of Cologne, Germany in December 2018 where he was the only Arab enrolled in the third cohort of the Serial Storytelling Master’s program in 2019.
In 2012 Matar was awarded the Golden Award at the PromaxBDA Arabia for a television teaser he wrote and directed. In 2017 Matar’s debut feature film “Slingshot” was an official selection in the Mediterranean Film Festival in Cannes and the Culcutta International Film Festival.
Matar is the founder of the first Arabic Chat Fiction application “Hakawaty” that aims to reinvent the way stories are consumed in the Arab world in the light of the 21st century.
Matar’s research areas focus on screenwriting and dramaturgy with a focus on: “Obstacles facing distribution of Arabic TV narratives”. Matar is in the process of completing his textbook on Dramaturgy. The textbook is written in Arabic and will be available to university students and academics late 2021.
Matar is currently in the development of several Serial TV concepts and Feature films and is currently in the pre-production of his feature 2d animated film “The Two Seas” which is to be completed in July 2022.
Designation
Assistant Professor
Education
Terminal degree
MFA, MA
Awarding Institution
Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts and International Film School of Cologne
Research/Creative Areas
Serial Storytelling, Film Directing, Screenwriting, Dramaturgy, Narratology, Animation, Fiction.
Teaching Areas
Film Production, Advanced Video Production, Screenwriting, Narratology, Audio Production, Media Storytelling, Producing, Video Editing, Cinematography.
Professional links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/motazhmaatar
mutaz.matar@zu.ac.ae
