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Mounia Akl

Director

Represented by:

Olivia Gray , Alex Rusher

Mounia Akl is a Lebanese director and writer based between London and New York. She earned her MFA from Columbia University and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®.

Her debut feature, Costa Brava, Lebanon, inspired by her short Submarine (Cannes 2016), premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, TIFF, and BFI London, winning the Audience Award. It was released in the US by Kino Lorber and later on Netflix. She developed the script through the Sundance Labs, Cannes Cinéfondation Residency, and Torino Film Lab. Her second feature film is currently in development and set to shoot in the next two years.

In TV, she has directed episodes of BBC’s The Responder (Martin Freeman), Boiling Point (Stephen Graham), and Netflix’s House of Guinness (created by Stephen Knight). She is also developing her own TV series with three colleagues set in Spain and New York.

Credits

FEATURE FILM
Date: 2021
Production (role):
COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON
Company:
Abbout Productions
Project details:
Co-written with Clara Roquet

Winner of London Film Festival Audience Award 2021

Official Selection: Venice Film Festival 2021 as part of Horizons Extra
Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs

Cannes Cinefondation Residency

Tribeca Film Institute

Torino Film Lab

The 2021 NETPAC Jury selected Costa Brava, Lebanon, as this year’s NETPAC winner. The 2021 NETPAC jury members included Gemma Cubero del Barrio, Isabelle Glachant and Elhum Shakerifar. “Costa Brava, Lebanon – an exquisite intergenerational family story – is an ode to sustainable futures by visionary new talent, Mounia Akl from her precious and troubled country,” said the NETPAC jury’s statement.
SHORT FILM
Date: 2016
Production (role):
SUBMARINE
Company:
Produced by Cyril Aris and Jinane Chaaya
Project details:
Co-written with Clara Roquet

Official Selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation)
North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
MENA Premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival: Winner of Jury Prize
Date: 2017
Production (role):
EL GRAN LIBANO
Company:
Prod. Dominique Wellinski & Abbout Productions
Project details:
Co-written and co-directed with Neto Villalobos

Opened the Directors' Fortnight on May 18, 2017
Screened by BFI and the Sarajevo Film Festival
TELEVISION
Date: 2025
Production (role):
House of Guinness
Company:
Kudos / Netflix
Project details:
Directed Episodes 6, 7 & 8
Date: 2024
Production (role):
The Responder Series 2
Company:
Dancing Ledge Productions
Project details:
Directed Episodes 3 & 4
Date: 2023
Production (role):
BOILING POINT
Company:
BBC Studios
Project details:
Directed Episodes 3 & 4
Date: 2019
Production (role):
DO NOT DISTURB
Company:
Pulse Films & Jude Law/ Blackpills
Project details:
Season 1, Episode 4 - Director (Forbidden Love in London)
Date: 2010
Production (role):
BEIRUT I LOVE YOU
Co-created & co-directed
Company:
LBC
Project details:
20-somethings living in Beirut as they attempt to balance work, love, and life.
IN DEVELOPMENT
Production (role):
2020 WOMEN
Project details:
Original TV Development with co-writers Clara Roquet, Francisca Alegria, and Fernanda Urejola

Credits

  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2021
    Production (role): COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON
    Company: Abbout Productions
    Project details: Co-written with Clara Roquet

    Winner of London Film Festival Audience Award 2021

    Official Selection: Venice Film Festival 2021 as part of Horizons Extra
    Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs

    Cannes Cinefondation Residency

    Tribeca Film Institute

    Torino Film Lab

    The 2021 NETPAC Jury selected Costa Brava, Lebanon, as this year’s NETPAC winner. The 2021 NETPAC jury members included Gemma Cubero del Barrio, Isabelle Glachant and Elhum Shakerifar. “Costa Brava, Lebanon – an exquisite intergenerational family story – is an ode to sustainable futures by visionary new talent, Mounia Akl from her precious and troubled country,” said the NETPAC jury’s statement.
  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2016
    Production (role): SUBMARINE
    Company: Produced by Cyril Aris and Jinane Chaaya
    Project details: Co-written with Clara Roquet

    Official Selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation)
    North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival
    MENA Premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival: Winner of Jury Prize
  • Date: 2017
    Production (role): EL GRAN LIBANO
    Company: Prod. Dominique Wellinski & Abbout Productions
    Project details: Co-written and co-directed with Neto Villalobos

    Opened the Directors' Fortnight on May 18, 2017
    Screened by BFI and the Sarajevo Film Festival
  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2025
    Production (role): House of Guinness
    Company: Kudos / Netflix
    Project details: Directed Episodes 6, 7 & 8
  • Date: 2024
    Production (role): The Responder Series 2
    Company: Dancing Ledge Productions
    Project details: Directed Episodes 3 & 4
  • Date: 2023
    Production (role): BOILING POINT
    Company: BBC Studios
    Project details: Directed Episodes 3 & 4
  • Date: 2019
    Production (role): DO NOT DISTURB
    Company: Pulse Films & Jude Law/ Blackpills
    Project details: Season 1, Episode 4 - Director (Forbidden Love in London)
  • Date: 2010
    Production (role): BEIRUT I LOVE YOU
    Co-created & co-directed
    Company: LBC
    Project details: 20-somethings living in Beirut as they attempt to balance work, love, and life.
  • Production (role)
    Project details
  • Production (role): 2020 WOMEN
    Project details: Original TV Development with co-writers Clara Roquet, Francisca Alegria, and Fernanda Urejola
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