Costa Brava Lebanon
TFI Suppport
TFI Network 2020
Logline
The Badri family lives in isolation in Lebanon’s mountains. When the government inaugurates a landfill outside their fence, everything they escaped catches up with them.
Mounia Akl
Director
Mounia Akl is an award-winning Lebanese filmmaker living between Beirut and New York. Her short film, SUBMARINE (2016), was in the official selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (Cinefondation), SXSW, TIFF and Dubai International Film Festival where it won the Muhr Jury Prize. In 2017, Mounia took part in the LEBANON FACTORY and co-directed a short film EL GRAN LIBANO which opened Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and screened at Sarajevo Film Festival and BFI London among others. Mounia Akl recently completed the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation Residency in Paris with her first feature, COSTA BRAVA LEBANON. The project was also selected to participate in Torino Film Lab Feature Lab and in the Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Lab. Mounia also regularly makes Fashion/Architecture/Brand Films, between Lebanon, New York and Paris where she is represented by WOMANRAY. Notably, she directed FORBIDDEN LOVE, an episode of Do Not Disturb Series, produced by Pulse Films and Jude Law, for Blackpills; and collaborated with designer Sandra Mansour on the fashion film 11 MINUTES, which was released exclusively on Vogue then Staff Picked by Vimeo. Mounia holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from ALBA and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. Mounia has taught film directing at the NHSI film summer institute at Northwestern University, Chicago.
Myriam Sassine
Producer
Myriam Sassine majored in audiovisual studies at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) in 2005 and received her M.A. in cinema research in 2009. She started working in 2005 as a story producer on reality shows and directed a short video, NO CONNECTION (2006), which was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival 2007 and screened in various international film festivals and art galleries. In 2010, Myriam Sassine worked for two years in content development with Lucky Monkey Pictures (USA) and Abbout Productions (Lebanon). In 2012, she became an Associate Producer at Abbout Productions working on several features such as THE VALLEY by Ghassan Salhab (TIFF 2014/ Berlinale Forum 2015), TRAMONTANE by Vatche Boulghourjian (Cannes Critic’s Week 2016). She produced the feature films ALL THIS VICTORY by Ahmad Ghossein (Venice Critic’s Week Grand Prize and Audience Award winner 2019), 1982 by Oualid Mouaness (TIFF 2019 - NETPAC Award), LEBANON FACTORY (Directors’ Fortnight- Cannes 2017) and THE RESTORATION OF ILA AYN? the first Lebanese auteur film (Cannes Classics 2017). Myriam also produces feature documentaries such as E MUET by Corine Shawi (Fid Marseille 2013/ KVIFF 2015), A TIME TO REST by Myriam El Hajj (Visions du Réel- Nyon 2015), PANOPTIC by Rana Eid (Locarno 2017) and AMAL by Mohamed Siam (Idfa 2017/ Hot Docs 2018). Myriam is an alumnus of DocMed (2011), Berlinale Talents (2014), Torino Film Lab (2018), EAVE Producer’s Workshop (2019) and Film Independent Producing Lab (2019). Since 2016, she is the COO of Schortcut Films, dedicated to coproducing international features such FÉLICITÉ by Alain Gomis (Silver Bear at 2017 Berlinale) and IT MUST BE HEAVEN by Elia Suleiman (Cannes Competition 2019). In 2016, she cofounded Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first fantastic film festival in the Middle East and acts as the festival’s director.
Georges Schoucair
Producer
Over his 15+ years of experience, Georges Schoucair developed and produced critically acclaimed, and award-winning, independent movies and has actively contributed to the establishment of an attractive and globally acknowledged environment for film investments in Lebanon and to the development of the Lebanese cinema, one of the most promising cinemas in the Middle-East today. As a producer, Georges was able to develop strong relationships with prominent Arab and international film professionals and closely worked with award winning directors (such as Kaouther Ben Hania, Vatche Boulghourjian, Jean Luc Godard, Alain Gomis, Joana Hadjithomas, Annemarie Jacir, Khalil Joreige, Mohammad Malas, Lucrecia Martel, Shirin Neshat, Asli Ozge, Rafi Pitts, Bill Plympton, Ghassan Salhab, Elia Suleiman, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) and internationally recognized actors (such as Catherine Deneuve, Pierre Richard, Nadine Labaki,). His films have screened at prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, Toronto, Venice, Locarno, Karlovy Vary. In parallel to Abbout Productions, Georges co-founded MC Distribution, which releases independent films in the Middle-East and North Africa, and is since 2008 the vice-president of Metropolis, the only art house cinema in Beirut. His most recent endeavor is Schortcut Films, which identifies and invests in high quality international independent films. In 2019, Georges was invited to become a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Clara Roquet
Co-Screenwriter
Clara Roquet is a writer and director from Spain. Her first film as a screenwriter was the SXSW and SIFF award-winner indie film 10.000 KM, directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet, winner of a Goya award, the Gaudí Award for best Screenplay and the Silver Biznaga for Best Screenplay, and nominated for the European Film Awards. She adapted the critically acclaimed novel "This Too Shall Pass" by Milena Busquets for Argentinian director Daniel Burman. Her first project as a director was the short film El Adiós, winner of the Student BAFTA and nominated for the 2016 European Film Awards. El Adiós premiered in the 2015 TIFF, played in Telluride and Clermont-Ferrand, won awards from the DGA and the National Board of Review, and was acquired by HBO. She was also the co-writer of PETRA by Jaime Rosales, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 71th Cannes Film Festival. Clara graduated with an MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University, where she also taught a lab in screenwriting.