Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Costa Brava, Lebanon, a darkly comic tale set against the current political and environmental crises in Lebanon.
Mounia Akl’s directorial debut, which premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti Extra sidebar last year, stars actress/director Nadine Labaki (Capernaum) and Saleh Bakri (The Band’s Visit). Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for Costa Brava, Lebanon on July 15.
Aki’s intergenerational family story focuses on the free-spirited Badri clan, who, in an effort to escape the toxic pollution and social unrest of Beirut, build a mini-utopia off the grid. But the world intervenes when the Lebanese government begins construction on a garbage landfill right outside their fence. The country’s trash and corruption is literally being brought to their doorstep. The Badris are forced to either stay true to their ideals and live outside the system or leave their idyllic mountain home and engage with the reality they fled. Nadia Charbel, Liliane Chacar Khoury, and Geana and Ceana Restom co-star.
Costa Brava, Lebanon was produced by Myriam Sassine and Georges Schoucair for Abbout Productions. Set up as a Lebanese, French, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian co-production, the was executive produced by Jeff Skoll, Anikah McLaren, Fouad Mikati, Candice Abela Mikati, Karam Abulhusn, Monique Dib, Lara El Khoury, Elie Tabet and Harriet Harper Jones. Co-producers are Cinema Defacto, Lastor Media, Fox in the Snow Films, Snowglobe, Barentsfilm, Gaïjin and Boo Pictures.
“Costa Brava, Lebanon captures the joys and frustrations of a close-knit family with an intimacy that feels startlingly natural, and sets it against a sharply drawn backdrop of environmental protest and pollution,” said Kino Lorber SVP Wendy Lidell. “Though it is her first feature film, Mounia Akl’s gift with actors is evident in the sensitively realized performances she elicits from her cast, which includes fellow actress and award-winning filmmaker Nadine Labaki.”
The deal for Costa Brava, Lebanon was negotiated by Lidell with Rob Williams from Participant, and WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers. France’s mk2 films is handling international sales for the title.
