Mounia Akl is a director and writer from Lebanon living between Beirut and New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from ALBA and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University. Apart from directing, Mounia has taught Directing and Screenwriting at Columbia University, and at Northwestern University, Chicago. Her previous work includes fiction films Stream, Christine, EVA, Series BILY, web series Fasateen and recently Lights, an omnibus feature film directed by six directors, including herself. Her films were screened at major film festivals and her latest film, Submarine, was in the official selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in the Cinefondation category. She recently finished editing Clara Roquet’s film El Adios which premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival. Submarine was awarded the James Bridges production grant and is a short film that explores the story of the feature film she is currently writing and which she plans to direct in the near future.