Hala Matar

Hala Matar is a Bahraini-American director based in Los Angeles. Electra, which she directed, co-wrote and co-produced, is her feature film debut and stars Maria Bakalova, Jack Farthing, Daryl Wein and Abigail Cowen. She has directed films for Vice and Nowness and for fashion brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Moncler, Kenzo, Vivienne Westwood and Diesel. She made music videos for Interpol, The Voidz and Poolside. She has worked with a variety of A-list talents such as Kristen Stewart, Chloe Sevigny, Johnny Knoxville, Suki Waterhouse and Matthew Gray Gubler. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vogue, NME, Spin, NME, W Magazine, Nylon, CNN and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.

Talks

To Create Something True, You Need to Forget the Rules and Just Leap

By Hala Matar | May 2, 2025

To Create Something True, You Need to Forget the Rules and Just Leap

Writer-director Hala Matar on the beautiful, unexpected and slightly chaotic genesis of her debut feature, Electra, which is in theaters now.