Director Mounia Akl's short film Submarine has won the Special Jury Prize at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where it premiered in the Arab world within the Muhr Short competition. Mounia Akl is also currently working on adapting Submarine into a feature film which is set to be completed soon.

DIFF is one of the most important film festivals in the Arab world. In each edition, DIFF showcases over 120 features, shorts films and documentaries from around the world and will include several world premieres. Every year DIFF presents new and exciting cinema from the Arab world and beyond, introducing audiences to fresh, new talent and original and distinctive filmmaking.

Under the imminent threat of Lebanon's garbage crisis, Hala, a wild child inside of a woman is the only one to refuse evacuation, clinging to whatever remains of home.

Produced by Cyril Aris and Jinane Chaaya, and distributed by MAD Solutions in the Arab world, Submarine stars Julian Farhat, Yumna Marwan, and Adel Chahine. Submarine was also awarded the James Bridges production grant.

The film's world premiere was held during the latest edition of the Cannes Film Festival and it also participated in the 41st Toronto International Film Festival, in addition to over 15 international festivals around the world.

Mounia Akl is a Lebanese director and writer. She holds an MFA Directing and Screenwriting from Columbia University in New York. She is best known for her TV/web-series Beirut, I Love You (I Love You Not) which made a huge success and marked a large number of YouTube views. In 2015, Akl co-founded Breaking Wave Pictures with 7 MFA film students at Columbia University. Her previous work includes many award-winning short films like Christine, EVA, Anoesis, and Fasateen web series, produced by Yahoo. Mounia Akl has recently finished the editing of the award-winning Spanish film El Adios. Mounia also co-wrote the short film The President's Visit, currently in post-production, that has been awarded a Katharina Otto-Bernstein Film Fund award, and a Doha Film Institute Production Grant.