Film Description: This creative hybrid documentary is based on the true story about the Palestinian artist Zuhdi Al Adawi, who in 1975 at the age of just 15 years was convicted to 15 years' imprisonment, which he served in the Israeli high-security prison Askalan. It was only thanks to the help of his fellow inmates and their families that he managed to survive mentally. Colour crayons that were smuggled in became his only contact with the outside world - not through letters, but through his distressed and allegorical drawings, which are brought to life in partially animated sequences.

Filmmaker Bio: Laila Hotait Salas, Ph.D, is a Lebanese-Spanish filmmaker and artist. Her academic work deals with Arab contemporary cinema and its filmmakers.

As a filmmaker herself, her first documentary film, ‘Crayons of Askalan’ (2011) has been presented in more than 20 film festivals, including Hot Docs, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, CPH:DOX and DocsDF. Her sound art works have been presented at international venues such as the Centre Pompidou, the Kunst-im-Tunnel Museum Düsseldorf and several art galleries. Hotait was selected by the CPH:LAB as an international emerging film talent in 2011. Her work has received support from institutions including the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Sundance Documentary Fund Program, Screen Institute Beirut and the Doha Film Institute and is currently developing a feature film that was selected by Cine Qua Non Lab residency program.

Laila Hotait has been teaching film writing and directing at the University Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico, for five years.