Submarine
2016 · 21m · Lebanon
Directed by Mounia Akl
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, provocative
Under the imminent threat of Lebanon's garbage crisis, Hala — a wild, free-spirited woman — is the only one who refuses evacuation, clinging fiercely to whatever remains of home.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Mounia Akl's pre-Costa Brava Cannes Cinéfondation premiere, TIFF, SXSW. Lebanon's garbage crisis as both backdrop and metaphor, 21 minutes. The pedigree and the political specificity converge — and Akl became a director who delivers on her premises.
Mounia Akl turned this Cinéfondation short into her feature Costa Brava Lebanon, and you can feel why: the garbage crisis as both literal setting and refusal-to-leave metaphor is the kind of premise that actually earns its weight.
The production design harnesses a real geopolitical crisis as mise-en-scène — Akl's precise control over a location-driven narrative reveals exactly how much craft emerges when a filmmaker refuses to separate environment from character psychology.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival 2016
- Toronto International Film Festival 2016
- Dubai International Film Festival 2016, Muhr Jury Prize
- SXSW 2017