Lubna Azabal

Acting

Lubna Azabal

Born 1973-08-15 · Bruxelles, Belgium

Lubna Azabal is a Belgian actress, born in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother. After studing at the Conservatoire royal of Brussels, she began a theatrical career in Belgium. In 1997, she took her first film role when Belgian film-maker Vincent Lannoo chose her to act beside Olivier Gourmet in his short film J'adore le cinéma. She performs in both French and Arabic films. She was raised trilingual (French, Spanish and Berber). She also speaks fluent English and Arabic. Her most widely known role is in the 2005 Golden Globe-winning Palestinian political thriller, Paradise Now. She can also be spotted in a smaller role in Ridley Scott's film Body of Lies. Azabal won the Black Pearl Award 2010 (Abu Dhabi Film Festival) for Best Actress for her role in the film Incendies. She also won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 31st Genie Awards.

Acting credits

Incendies poster
8.1

A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.

Incendies

2010

Body of Lies poster
6.6

The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.

Body of Lies

2008

The Blue Caftan poster
7.2

A middle-aged tailor and his wife find their relationship challenged by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.

The Blue Caftan

2023

Mary Magdalene poster
6.3

In the first century, free-spirited Mary Magdalene flees the marriage her family has arranged for her, finding refuge and a sense of purpose in a radical new movement led by the charismatic, rabble-rousing preacher named Jesus.

Mary Magdalene

2018

Coriolanus poster
5.8

Caius Martius, aka Coriolanus, is an arrogant and fearsome general who has built a career on protecting Rome from its enemies. Pushed by his ambitious mother to seek the position of consul, Coriolanus is at odds with the masses and unpopular with certain colleagues. When a riot results in his expulsion from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. Together, the pair vow to destroy the great city.

Coriolanus

2011

Hot Water poster
3.0

A Lebanese-American teenager gets expelled from school and is forced to drive cross-country with his neurotic mother. What begins as punishment becomes the longest, funniest, and most unexpectedly meaningful trip of his life.

Hot Water

2026

Simone: Woman of the Century poster
7.9

Simone Veil's life story through the pivotal events of Twentieth Century. Her childhood, her political battles, her tragedies. An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era defending a humanist message still keenly relevant today.

Simone: Woman of the Century

2022

Paradise Now poster
6.9

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Paradise Now

2005

A Turkish Case poster
7.1

Mathieu distanced himself from his Turkish community to climb the social ladder. A determined lawyer, he works hard to become a partner at an influential Parisian law firm. When a young Turkish man in a precarious situation who needs help bursts into his life, Mathieu is drawn into a corruption scandal that threatens to destroy everything he has built.

A Turkish Case

2026

Maldoror poster
6.4

When two girls go missing, Paul Chartier, an impulsive young police recruit, is assigned to “Maldoror”. This secret unit has been set up to monitor a dangerous sex offender. When the operation fails, fed up with the limits of the legal system, Chartier embarks on a solitary hunt to bring down the culprits.

Maldoror

2024

Pure fiction poster
7.0

Film based on the infamous 'Marc Dutroux' case that shook Belgium to its core.

Pure fiction

1998

Lockdown poster
6.0

In his own natural habitat, the infamous Brussels' neighbourhood Molenbeek that appeared in the international news several times after terrorist attacks in Europe, director Koen Van Sande tells a story about paranoia and misunderstandings.

Lockdown

2018

Above the Law poster
5.9

Frank Valken, high-flying robber, has just made a final masterful break. At least that’s what he believes… Ideal suspects, Valken and his gang find themselves involved in a criminal case of thirty years. It seems that the crazy killers are back.

Above the Law

2017

Hellhole poster
3.8

Three starkly different people deal with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Brussels in May 2016. A Flemish doctor, whose son is a fighter jet pilot on a mission in the Middle East, is forced to confront his loneliness. A young man from Algerian descent is asked by his brother to do him a deceivingly simple favor. An Italian woman, who works in the heart of the European Institutions, is slowly losing control under the pressure of her demanding life. The same question that seems to haunt the city looms over their lives : where do we go from here?

Hellhole

2019

Buğday poster
5.8

The global corporations have established cities and agricultural zones in areas where the climate is relatively good. These cities are populated by the elites, while the immigrant masses struggle with hunger and epidemics. For unknown reasons, the city’s agricultural plantations have been hit by a genetic crisis - and, as a result, by massive crop failure. Professor Erol Erin, a seed genetics specialist learns of Cemil Akman, a fellow scientist. Apparently, Cemil wrote a thesis about the recurrent crisis affecting genetically modified seeds - but the work was banned by the corporation..

Buğday

2017

Adam poster
7.0

Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer, but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their home. Gradually, however, Abla's resolve softens and Samia's arrival begins to offer all of them the prospect of a new life.

Adam

2019

Far Away poster
5.8

Serge is a long distance lorry driver between Morocco andEurope. In Tangier, he tries to reconcile with his former girlfriend, Sarah. She has refused to have anything to do with him since her mother’s death and intends to join her brother in Canada. Serge appeals to Sarah’s protector, a young Arab named Saïd, to allow him to meet up with Sarah, promising in return to smuggle Saïd into Europe...

Far Away

2001

For My Country poster
6.2

Aissa, a young officer of Algerian origin, tragically loses his life during a fresher initiation ritual at the prestigious French military academy of Saint-Cyr. As the death tears through his family, controversy arises over Aissa’s funeral plans when the Army refuses to take responsibility. Ismael, his older, rebellious brother, tries to keep the family united as they fight to win justice for Aissa.

For My Country

2023

Rebel poster
7.7

Kamal resolves to change his life for the better, and so leaves Belgium to help victims of the war in Syria. But when he arrives, he is forced to join a militia and is left stranded in Raqqa. Back home, his younger brother Nassim quickly becomes easy prey for radical recruiters, who promise to reunite him with his brother. Their mother, Leila, fights to protect the only thing she has left: her youngest son.

Rebel

2022

Exiles poster
6.1

One day Zano suggest a crazy idea to his companion Naïma: travel across France and Spain down to Algeria, where they might ultimately come to know the land their parents once had to flee.

Exiles

2004

Here poster
5.0

Set against the gorgeous landscape of Armenia, Here chronicles a brief but intense relationship between an American satellite-mapping engineer (Foster) and an expatriate photographer (Azabal) who impulsively decide to travel across the remote countryside. As their trip comes to an end, the two must decide where to go from Here

Here

2011

I Am Slave poster
6.1

Based on the real-life experiences of Mende Nazer, the story unfolds as twelve-year-old Malia, daughter of champion wrestler Bah, is abducted from her Sudanese village in the Nubar Mountains by pro-government Arab militia and sold into slavery to a woman in Khartoum, who beats her for touching her daughter. After six years she is sent to London, where her name is changed, but her miserable life of servitude continues. Her passport is taken and she is told that her father will die if she goes to the authorities. Fortunately she meets a sympathetic person who seems to offer her the hope of escape and reunion with Bah ,back in Sudan. For all the film's optimism an end title states that there are around 5,000 'slave' workers currently in Britain.

I Am Slave

2010

A Bluebird in My Heart poster
5.9

An ex-con's attempts to live a quiet life are derailed when the daughter of the woman sheltering him is the victim of a vicious attack.

A Bluebird in My Heart

2018

Champion poster
6.6

At 24 years old, Zack has all the appearances of a young man who feels good in his own skin. His secret is well kept. He's talented carpenter, he builds tree houses with his father. But his passion is boxing, which he teaches as a volunteer. Zack is thinking of moving in with Marjorie when his father has a work accident and falls into a coma. He must face alone the task of running the small family business. The weaknesses he thought he had overcome will be brought back. And as a newcomer, Ines, enters his life, his secret is in danger of being revealed at any time: Zack is illiterate.

Champion

2022