Costa Brava, Lebanon

The Badri family lives a difficult but satisfying life in Lebanon’s lush hills, off the grid, raising food and a healthy family. Having abandoned Beirut and its toxic mix of pollution and politics, they seem now to have found a home. Until the building of a landfill exposes long-simmering tensions.

This family of five has grown accustomed to quiet and hard work. So when the youngest child sees strangers in the distance, the family is wary to say the least. Soon, representatives from the corrupt government are nearby, and promise the family that this new landfill will be an environmentally friendly one. But the parents, Soraya (Nadine Labaki) and Walid (Saleh Bakri) have had first hand experience with such lies, and they know their home will soon be unlivable. Realism meets magical-realism in Mounia Akl’s moving drama. Lebanon’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards.

Director Biography

Mounia Akl was born in Lebanon and studied directing at Columbia University. She directed the shorts “Beirut, I Love You (I Love You Not)” (2009), “Cheers, to those Who Stay” (2010) “Anoesis” (2011), “Christine” (2014) “Eva” (14) “Submarine” (2016) and “El Gran Libano” (2017). Costa Brava, Lebanon (2021) is her debut feature.

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