Mounia Akl is a Lebanese director
and writer, member of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Her first feature film, Costa Brava,
Lebanon (with Nadine Labaki and
Saleh Bakri), premiered in 2021 in
the official selection of the Venice
Film Festival, Toronto International
Film Festival where it won the
Netpac Award, and BFI London Film
Festival where it won the Audience
Award. In its premiere in Egypt at
the Gouna Film Festival, it won both
the Fipresci prize and the Green Star
Award. It was released in the US by
Kino Lorber and then on Netflix. It
was inspired by one of her short
films, Submarine, which premiered
at the 69th Cannes Film Festival
(Cinéfondation) and TIFF 2016.
Mounia is currently developing her
next feature film Hold Me (If You
Want) co-written with Livia Ullman
and Andris Felmanis, known for
Compartment No. 6 directed by
Juho Kuosmanen, that received the
Grand Prix du Jury at the Cannes
Film Festival in 2021.
Mounia has directed TV shows,
most recently BBC Studios’ shows
Boiling Point with Stephen Graham,
The Responder with Martin Freeman
and Netflix’s House of Guinness by
Steven Knight. Hold Me (If You Want)
is produced by Myriam Sassine and
Sophie Erbs, already producers on
Costa Brava, Lebanon.