COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON World Cinema

Following the theatrical screening, watch a special conversation with director Mounia Akl moderated by AFI FEST Programmer Julia Kipnis.

Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl makes a compelling feature debut with this whimsical family drama. Set in the near future, a close-knit family seeks refuge from the overlapping crises in Beirut of pollution, garbage pileups and social unrest by isolating in the remote mountains of Lebanon. Tensions arise when the government places a landfill directly next to their blissful property, forcing the family patriarch, Walid (Saleh Bakri), to lose his cool and his sanity. AFI FEST directing alum Nadine Labaki (CARAMEL, CAPERNAUM) captivates as Walid’s better half, the famed ex-songstress, Souraya, who is protective, yet liberal, with her two daughters – the precocious Rim and the burgeoning Tala. COSTA BRAVA is a charming tale that weaves family disputes and adolescent romance against the backdrop of waning revolutionary aspirations. –Julia Kipnis