COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON
O.V. in Arabic subtitled in Spanish and English
The Badri family has escaped Beirut to build their own utopia away from the pollution and conflict of the big city. However, this oasis of resistance to global capitalism is threatened by the invasion of a nearby landfill and the family's internal conflicts. An accurate portrait of a clan and their efforts to maintain an alternative lifestyle, Mounia Akl's debut feature, winner of the NETPAC award at the Toronto Film Festival, co-written by Clara Roquet, director of Libertad (premiered at the Cannes Critics' Week), features an all-star cast led by fellow director Nadine Labaki (Caramel) and Saleh Bakri, the Paul Newman of Arab cinema.
Direction: Mounia Akl
Cast: Nadine Labaki, Saleh Bakri, Nadia Charbel, Ceana Restom, Geana Restom, Liliane Chacar Khoury, Yumna Marwan
Mounia Akl
Born in Lebanon, studied Architecture at ALBA then completed an MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University. Her short film Submarine (2016) was screened at Cannes (Cinéfondation), SXSW, Toronto and Dubai Film Festivals, where she won the Muhr Jury Prize. She was part of the Lebanon Factory and co-directed the short film The Great Lebanon, which opened the Cannes Directors' Fortnight and was screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival and the BFI in London. Her first feature film Costa Brava, Lebanon was supported by the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence and the Torino and Sundance labs, premiering in Venice and Toronto. Akl also directs fashion and architecture films, as well as works on commissions for brands and TV fiction. She lives and works between Lebanon and New York.