![Lab Med](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/64527fd8b2cf72a7d641b087_Logo%20Lab%20Med%20Bleu.png)
LabMed 2015
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646deb4a9befdc07ef7240a0_64515f2595f9a67e7aef0aa5_Beyrouth.jpeg)
The class of 2015 was hosted in Algiers, Algeria, in November 2014, by the Agence Algérienne de rayonnement du Cinéma-AARC, in Beirut (Lebanon), in March 2015, on the occasion of the Beirut Cinema Days, by the Fondation Liban Cinéma, in Oran (Algeria), in June 2015, by the Agence Algérienne de rayonnement du Cinéma-AARC, on the occasion of the Festival du Film d'Oran (Oran's Film Festival), and in Paris (France) by the SACD.
![Myriam Sassine](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c936e7e581d7f6e25d261_645e7160547255c3deba66bd_Myriam%2520Sassine.jpeg)
Myriam Sassine
Myriam Sassine received her degree in Film Studies in 2005 and a Master's degree in Film Research in 2009. From 2005 to 2010, she was the editor of numerous reality shows. In 2009, she directed a documentary The Palestinian Cause in Lebanese Cinema and a video No Connection in 2006, selected at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007, and distributed via ArteEast in several festivals and art galleries in the United States, and around the world. In 2012, she became associate producer at Abbout Productions on several films including The Valley by Ghassan Salhab (TIFF 2014/Berlinale Forum 2015) and Tramontane by Vatche Boulghourjian (Critics Week - Cannes 2016). In 2017, she produced Lebanon Factory which opened the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. Myriam also produces feature documentaries including e muet by Corine Shawi (FidMarseille 2013/ KVIFF 2015), Trêve by Myriam El Hajj (Visions du Réel- Nyon/ Entrevues Belfort 2015), Panoptic by Rana Eid (Locarno Film Festival 2017), Un Certain Nasser by Badih Massaad and Antoine Waked (Festival Lumière/Cinemed 2017). She became the Director of Operations of Schortcut Films in 2016, a company dedicated to financing and co-producing international films and co-founded the first fantasy festival in the Arab world Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival whose first edition took place in Beirut in September 2016.
Mon royaume pour un passeport
Reef, 27, Lebanese, speaks four languages and works as an interpreter in Beirut. Yet she hates this city and even more, this country, where no glimmer of hope appears. Trying in vain to leave her country, Reef decides to find a husband of foreign nationality to finally obtain the passport that will allow her to live in one of the countries she so covets.
![Anna Belguermi](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c9363f05b61708af29a0d_645e71221cb81b6f0dc1f990_Anna%2520Belguermi.jpeg)
Anna Belguermi
Anna Belguermi studied literature and cinema at the Cergy School of Arts, and joined the Fémis in scriptwriting. There she wrote four feature films, and consulted on short films. In 2016, she was one of the Sopadin finalists for Best Junior Screenplay and directed her first short film as well as art videos with the Paradis collective. Now a screenwriter, she writes with directors, video artists, and is interested in radio writing.
Broderie
Beginning of the summer. Beginning of the vacations. The young people are bored. The arrival of a mysterious stranger in their village will upset their daily life. This stranger has a secret. The story, told by the teenagers, varies according to the speaker, the memories, the lies, the assumed hopes and the buried desires. Finally, the stranger disappears. Things have changed for one summer. The end of childhood.
![Mehdi Barsaoui](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c936c5abf546bdb60fcf6_645cddabc77d10dc4e736bad_M.Barsaoui.jpeg)
Mehdi Barsaoui
Born in 1984 in Tunisia, Mehdi Barsaoui was "bottle-fed on cinema" by his family. A director father, a producer father-in-law, a video maker cousin: as a matter of course, Mehdi Barsaoui enrolled in film school in Tunis after passing his high school diploma. When he finished his studies, he flew to Italy to complete his training at the DAMS in Bologna. Back in Tunisia, he worked as an editor before starting, in the late 2000s, to shoot short films. Over the next decade, he shot three, as well as two documentaries. Mehdi Barsaoui unveils his first feature film in 2019, A Son.
Un fils
In the summer of 2011, Fares and Meriem go with their ten-year-old son Aziz for a weekend in Tataouine, in southern Tunisia. On their way back, they are caught in a terrorist ambush, and a stray bullet seriously injures the boy. Hit in the abdomen, Aziz arrives at the hospital in critical condition, and only a liver transplant could save him. Fares and Meriem find themselves embroiled in a race against time to preserve their child's life.
![David Martin De los santos](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c93657e581d7f6e25cb57_645e713191003a513a27bcb1_David%2520Martin%2520de%2520los%2520Santos.jpeg)
David Martin De los santos
After receiving numerous awards for his short fiction films, Mañana no es otro día, En el hoyo and Llévame a otro sitio, 23 de mayo, David wrote and directed the documentaries ¿Generación perdida? and Ni vivos ni muertos, both produced by Documentos TV (TVE, Spanish National Network), the longest running documentary program in Spain. He also wrote and directed the independent documentary La isla durmiente, which won awards at the Barcelona and Lyon Film Festivals. Currently, David Martín de los Santos is involved in various projects, while preparing the production of his first feature film, recently selected by Meditalents, MadridCreaLab, Small is Biútuful (Espagnolas in Paris) and shortlisted for the X Julio Alejandro Screenplay Award.
La vida era eso
Maria and Veronica, Spanish women of two different generations living in France, share a hospital room. A vital and generational crossroads of exchange that will transform the way each feels about life. Against all odds, the young woman dies, and as no one comes to claim her body, Maria decides to take her ashes to Spain, in search of her family. There, she meets a very special man, an Eastern European biker, who manages to awaken in her a long-obscured sensual desire and a desire to live that she seems to have inherited from Verónica.
![Alkim Özmen](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c936216980e3c3cc0d9d6_645e71123f322de704bb671a_Alkim%2520O%25CC%2588zmen.jpeg)
Alkim Özmen
Graduated in Film at Istanbul Bilgi University, Alkim Ozmen, has been 1st assistant director on more than ninety episodes of TV series and ten feature films, including Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Grand Prix by the Jury at Cannes Film Festival in 2011. He has directed three short documentaries and three short fiction films. His short films are selected in many festivals around the world.
Châtiment
At age 17, Goksin is a teenager struggling to find his place in the world and to be able to make his own decisions. The Punishment is the drama he endures as a result of his dysfunctional family environment.
![Yassine Marco Moroccu](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c937330c08c80dd601bd6_645cba1e1992e57760ca033e_Yassine%2520Marco%2520Marroccu.jpeg)
Yassine Marco Moroccu
Director, producer and scriptwriter, Yassine Morroccu graduated in Audiovisual and Multimedia Technique from the University of Udine. He has directed two short films, including Gnawas and Trr!!!! Issa!!! Blave Runer, for which he was awarded in several festivals: Milan Film Festival, Hollywood Spiritual Film Festival, Torino Film Festival...
Afina
Through the "Morning show" of a major Moroccan radio station, the audience discovers the adventure lived by Jemal that the radio host transforms into a comedy for his listeners: Grown in Essaouira, Jemal left for the USA after winning the Green Card lottery. His dream seemed to come true in the Nevada desert where he had been working for two weeks. But, during a hold-up, he was arrested by the FBI. His only crime was his resemblance to Abu Qataba, a terrorist actively wanted since the September 11 attacks. After a year in prison, the truth eventually triumphed, the real Abu Qataba was arrested, and Jemal was released.
![Omar Mouldouira](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c936fddabc7a2336ab908_645e71738da1ca0f8cc7c766_Omar%2520Mouldouira.jpeg)
Omar Mouldouira
Born in June 1973, Omar Mouldouira trained as a sound engineer at the FEMIS from which he graduated in 1999. After collaborating on the soundtracks of many films and documentaries, he trained in screenwriting and became a reader for the CNC and Equinoxe. For the past 13 years, he has been teaching audiovisual techniques, screenwriting and directing in several film schools in France and Morocco.He has written and directed several short films that have won awards at numerous international festivals, including Margelle, which was broadcast on France 2, 2M Morocco, BBC Arabic and TV5.He is also developing several feature film projects, which have won several writing awards, including Noria, which was awarded the development grant at the Amiens festival.
Noria
Sara, a French woman in her thirties, is a subway driver and leads a monotonous and lonely life until one day she collides with an illegal Moroccan woman. She then decides to go to Morocco to look for the family of the unknown woman to help her repatriate to her family. So begins a winding, unpredictable journey, full of detours and encounters through an unknown country.A journey towards the other. Towards herself...
![Karim Bensalah](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c9369f05b61708af29fb4_645cb8842120ceaf9b346250_Karim%2520bensalah.jpeg)
Karim Bensalah
A graduate of London Film Scool, Karim Bensalah has directed several films, including Les Heures blanches, Chantier(s), Le secret de Fatima, to name a few. Director, screenwriter and actor, Karim Bensalah has received numerous awards for his films around the world (Sundance, Vaux en Velin, Festival de l'Outaouais, FESPACO, Dijon, Le Havre...). His short films have been broadcast on Arte and France 2.Also an actor in the theater, Karim has been working for over 10 years in image education projects throughout France in schools and associations.
Lumière noire
Algerian, son of a diplomat, Sofiane has always led an easy life abroad. Studying in France, while hoping for a great career as a diplomat, he is the victim of an administrative decision, and becomes undocumented. In the hope of regularizing his situation as soon as possible, he decides to work temporarily for a Muslim funeral home. But becoming an ambassador of the dead will prove to be the experience of a lifetime...
![Amin Sidi-Boumediene](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c9363e8f550e7beb14116_645cdd9afc8ee6556bbbbad7_Amin.jpeg)
Amin Sidi-Boumediene
Born in 1982, Amin Sidi-Boumédiène graduated in 2005 from CLCF in Paris with a degree in directing. His first short film, "Demain, Alger?" was selected in many festivals around the world. "The Island", his second short film, won the Best Film Award at the Abu Dhabi Festival. In 2014, he made his third short film "Serial K.", screened at the Béjaia Film Days. He has just completed his first feature film, "Abou Leila" shot in Algeria, selected at the 58th Critics' Week.
Abou Leila
Algeria, 1994. S. and Lotfi, two childhood friends, cross the desert in search of Abou Leila, a dangerous criminal. The quest seems absurd in the immensity of the Sahara. But S., whose mental health is wavering, is convinced he will find Abou Leila. Lotfi, for his part, has only one idea in mind: to take S. away from the capital. It is by sinking into the desert that they will confront their own violence.
![Hussen Ibraheem](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/646c9368119fb89ec36888d5_645e714af13572d674128394_Hussen%2520Ibraheem.jpeg)
Hussen Ibraheem
Lebanese director born in Beirut, Hussen Ibrahim graduated in Film making from the Institute of Cinematic arts (AQABA, JORDAN), after having graduated in Interior Architecture. His short films have been selected in many festivals, including 3:30 which was awarded at the Franco-Arab Film Festival. He has participated in several screenplay workshops and has been selected in many co-production platforms for the development of his first film Tide.He has just directed a new short film entitled Sweet Disconnections, currently in post-production.
Tide
A married couple, each of a different citizenship, has just lost their child. In order to get their son's body out of the hospital and save the remains of their marriage troubled by this terrible death, the couple embarks on a journey to find official papers proving the child's Lebanese nationality so they can bury him decently.
![Marcel Beaulieu](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/6499d57f1ffdec776563e198_Marcel.jpg)
Marcel Beaulieu
Marcel Beaulieu is a screenwriter born in 1952 in Canada. He began his career in 1978 writing radio plays for Radio Canada1. Working in Quebec, France and Europe, he has collaborated on over eighty works, with Léa Pool, Francis Leclerc, Yves Simoneau, Michel Langlois and others. In 1997, he founded a screenplay teaching program at the Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS) in Montreal. He is best known for Gérard Corbiau's Farinelli (nominated for an Oscar in 1995 for Best Foreign Film and winner of the Golden Globe for Foreign Film).
![Malika Laichour-Romane](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/649a033dc10662e3da1251da_malika.jpg)
Malika Laichour-Romane
Malika Laichour Romane is a director, scriptwriter and producer. She lives and works in Algiers, where she runs her own production company, Rive Blanche.
![Nella Banfi](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/644124c6cc1af20ba044f38d_Nella%20Banfi.jpg)
Nella Banfi
Franco-Italian producer, Les Nuits Fauves, Cyril Collard (4 Césars), co-producer of Nanni Moretti, and numerous first films. Former President of Meditalents, currently in charge of the association's development.
![Magali Negroni](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/6461ed9716105ccdec9ba891_Magali%20Negroni.jpg)
Magali Negroni
Magali Negroni holds a DEA from the University of Paris 8. Her research focused on Saül Bass. She began her career as an assistant director and went on to become a director, working on short films, commercials and documentaries that have been selected for competition in Berlin, New York and at the César awards.
Currently, she works as a scriptwriter and consultant mainly in the Middle East and Maghreb countries, as well as being a reader for Cinémas du Monde. In collaboration with Virginie Legeay, she co-wrote and produced the following films: "Les Jours d'avant" by Karim Moussaoui, "Hédi" by Mohamed Ben Attia, both of which won prizes in Berlin, and "The Translator" by Rana Kazkaz, which won the Prix Cinéfondation and was acquired by Arte.
![Romain Compingt](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/6461faec4d30162b256288d7_Romain%20Compingt.jpg)
Romain Compingt
Romain Compingt, who graduated from the Conservatoire européen d'écriture audiovisuelle (CEEA) in 2004, co-wrote his first contracts with Alain Layrac, including an aborted film project for Isabelle Adjani. His first work brought to the screen was Régis Roinsard's "Populaire", released in November 2012, which received five 2013 César nominations, including Best First Film. He then co-wrote and was artistic collaborator on "Divines" with director Houda Benyamina, which won several awards, including the 2016 Caméra d'or and the 2017 César for Best First Film.
As co-writer and assistant director, he won Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Screamfest for Holy Fatma's "Please Love Me Forever". Since 2014, he has been a lecturer at the Conservatoire européen d'écriture audiovisuelle and a member of Groupe Ouest's team of consulting screenwriters since 2015. In 2020, he starred in Régis Roinsard's film "Les Traducteurs", and in 2021, he signed the script and dialogues for "En attendant Bojangles", adapted from Olivier Bourdeaut's novel, for Régis Roinsard's third film. He is also a consultant on several projects, including Emmanuelle Bercot's "La Fille de Brest" and Mélanie Auffret's "Les petites victoires", and was dramaturge for Philippe Lafeuille's contemporary dance show "Tutu".
![Domenico Rafele](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/649a03920d651c6e36c2fead_domeneco.jpg)
Domenico Rafele
Born and raised in Calabria, he later moved to Rome where he graduated in philosophy with a thesis on cinema. He has collaborated with Gianni Amelio, Bernardo Bertolucci and Giuseppe Bertolucci.
Rafele was also among the screenwriters of The Octopus 8 - The Scandal, The Octopus 9 - The Pact and The Octopus 10; he went on to screenplay other TV series, such as The Voice of Blood, The Young Mussolini, Zodiac and Mom by Chance. In 2009 he published his first novel, La forma della paura, written with Giancarlo De Cataldo and published by Stile Libero (Einaudi).
![Antoine Waked](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/649a03f6e9e05f9a44fb66f8_Antoine.jpg)
Antoine Waked
Antoine Waked studied audiovisual arts at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA). He has directed three short films: Le Matelas (2004), Giallo (2005) and the animated film The Big Fall (2005), which was selected for film festivals in Paris, Lyon, Sydney, Rome, Morocco and Egypt. Since 2005, he has taught writing and directing at ALBA and currently works as a scriptwriter and development manager at Abbout Productions and Shortcut Films. With Badih Massaad, he co-directed the documentary Un Certain Nasser (2017), a portrait of pioneering Lebanese filmmaker Georges Nasser. Antoine is also the co-founder and artistic director of Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first fantastic film festival in the Middle East, which held its first edition in September 2016.
![Mira El Koussa](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/641d768e062c4290ab02a9d0/649a041e3bff346f46c30745_mira.jpg)
Mira El Koussa
Mira El Koussa is known as a screenwriter, director and producer of short films.