Charlotte Rabate is best known for her condom commercial for Durex, which quickly went viral and won numerous awards, including the AICP award and the Porsche Award, and was nominated for a Cannes Lions. Charlotte is a French-Syrian writer, director and producer based in New York. After obtaining a degree from the London School of Economics, she decided to pursue a career in film and completed an M.F.A. in Directing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Charlotte recently attended the Hamptons Screenwriter’s Lab and the Torino Film Lab with her feature script Samir, the Accidental Spy. She also participated in Cine Qua Non Lab’s 2021 Storylines Lab with Untitled Maya Project. Her short film Lucille in the Sky (2013) received a Special Mention at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and her short film Son of Samila (2014) won the Amazing Thai Film Challenge, and later premiered on Nowness. Additionally, Charlotte received the Hollywood Foreign Press grant for her short film Save Me from the American Dream (2019). Stray Dolls, a feature she produced and co-wrote, premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and received the Tribeca All Access grant, the Jerome Foundation grant and the Tribeca Film Institute’s IWC Schaffhausen award. Her other films have premiered at the Cannes, Sundance and Venice film festivals. Charlotte is also a Rawi Screenwriter’s Lab fellow and a Berlinale Talent.

Samir, the Accidental Spy — Twelve-year-old Samir and his family escape to Lebanon after the 1966 Syrian coup d’état. Convinced that his father is a spy, he leads an investigation with his new girlfriend, Christine. However, his father’s double life has nothing to do with diplomacy.