Antonio Aakeel's Directorial Debut: A Short Film About the Performance of Survival
TL;DR: Slow Horses actor Antonio Aakeel has wrapped his directorial debut, a darkly comic short called "Lessons in Pretending" that examines fame, scandal, and the exhausting work of rehabilitating your public image. The film heads to festivals this fall. No streaming deal announced yet, but Apple TV+ is the logical eventual home.
The hostage negotiator becomes the one calling the shots. That's the career move Antonio Aakeel just pulled off, and if you've been tracking how streaming actors transition into directing, this one's worth watching closely.
Aakeel, best known as Hassan Ahmed in Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, has completed Lessons in Pretending, a short film he wrote, directed, and stars in. Variety broke the story on May 21. The production came together through Shila Bentley's Bentley & Shi Productions in association with CA Studios, the film arm of London's City Academy. That partnership matters: it's CA Studios' first film production ever. Both Aakeel and Bentley are betting on unproven infrastructure here. Small budgets. High creative stakes.
What the Film Actually Is (And What It's Trying to Do)
Lessons in Pretending isn't a calling card in the traditional sense — it's something sharper. A short-form, darkly comic drama about a disgraced former teen star named Arun Khan who agrees to lead a masterclass at a drama school. Ostensibly it's crisis management, a controlled space where he can project recovery and competence. Except control collapses fast. The film weaves in addiction, sexual impulse, and a piece of career-defining news that arrives mid-session.
Here's what you need to know at a glance:
- Director/Writer/Lead: Antonio Aakeel
- Producer: Shila Bentley (Bentley & Shi Productions)
- Production partner: CA Studios (City Academy, London)
- Genre: Dark comedy/drama (short film)
- Status: Production wrapped; festival circuit pending
- Streaming platform: TBD
- Runtime: Not yet disclosed
Bentley also appears opposite Aakeel. The supporting cast comes from working drama students at City Academy—a choice that's budget-pragmatic and tonally smart. It grounds the masterclass setting in something that feels lived-in.
Why Aakeel Made This, According to Aakeel
"I wanted to make something that felt funny, ugly and honest," Aakeel told Variety. "After years of working as an actor, I became fatigued by how performative this industry can be, not just on screen, but in the way we survive it. There is often very little room to lose control when you are in forward motion. With 'Lessons in Pretending,' I wanted to examine that relentlessness in a way I think many creatives will recognise."
That's not standard promotional language. The thing nobody mentions in most write-ups of actor-to-director moves is how rarely the stated motivation actually matches the material. Here it does. A story about a disgraced actor performing rehabilitation in front of drama students, written by an actor processing industry fatigue, isn't a coincidence. It's the whole thesis.
Producer Shila Bentley reinforced it: "Antonio's script was sharp, uncomfortable and deeply human. It felt current because the industry is shifting so quickly, and the emotional toll of trying to survive inside it feels more visible than ever."
Two voices. One consistent idea: this project is less about the character Arun Khan than about the machinery he's trapped inside.
Where Aakeel Fits in the Streaming Actor Ecosystem
Here's the thing about Antonio Aakeel. He's not a household name by mainstream metrics. He's something more strategically valuable: a recognizable face across three different streaming services simultaneously.
His credits:
- Apple TV+ (Slow Horses, Season 1, 2022): Hassan Ahmed, the British-Pakistani student at the center of a geopolitical kidnapping plot, opposite Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden. The show holds an 8.0 on IMDb. (That scene in Episode 2 where Hassan realizes the kidnapping is being staged for cameras—Aakeel sold the slow horror of it with almost no dialogue.)
- The CW (Sherlock & Daughter): American broadcast reach opposite David Thewlis.
- Netflix (Too Much, Lena Dunham comedy): A different demographic entirely.
Three platforms. Three audience demographics. That diversification is deliberate, and it gives Lessons in Pretending real leverage when it hits festivals. Programmers at Tribeca or Edinburgh or MAMI will recognize him from at least one of those contexts.
What most coverage frames as a natural creative evolution is actually a calculated portfolio play. The more interesting question isn't whether Aakeel can direct—plenty of actors can point a camera competently—but whether any of his three platform relationships converts into a first-look development deal on the basis of this short. That's where the real P&L shift happens, and it's the only metric that matters for his long-term positioning as a hyphenate.
India, Apple TV+, and Where This Actually Streams
Here's the honest answer for now: you can't stream Lessons in Pretending yet. The film is heading to festivals, with no OTT platform attached as of May 2026.
But the India angle deserves real attention, because Aakeel's profile in the country is stronger than his Western press coverage suggests. Slow Horses airs on Apple TV+ in India (₹99/month subscription), and Hassan Ahmed's storyline—a kidnapped British-Pakistani student—represented something South Asian audiences hadn't seen much of on prestige Western TV. That representation mattered. When Apple TV+ reported crossing 40 million global subscribers in late 2025 (up from roughly 20 million in 2021), India was cited as one of its fastest-growing markets, driven partly by cricket rights but also by the kind of prestige drama catalog that includes Slow Horses. Aakeel's visibility inside that growth curve gives a short film from him more acquisition logic than the runtime alone would justify.
Where to watch Slow Horses in India right now:
- Apple TV+ (via Apple devices, Smart TVs, Apple TV app)
- No regional language dubs currently available
When Lessons in Pretending lands on a platform, and it will, Apple TV+ is the logical home given the Slow Horses association. But CA Studios' first-film status suggests a festival-first, platform-second strategy is more likely. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker will update Indian availability the moment a distribution deal is confirmed.
What the Festival Circuit Actually Means
Short films don't generate box-office revenue. They generate reputation. And reputation generates the next commission.
Lessons in Pretending is not designed to be a product. It's designed to be evidence—evidence that Aakeel can hold a camera, develop a script, and direct against himself in a lead role simultaneously. Three separate skill sets. Doing all three in a debut short, with a first-time film production company, is either impressively confident or slightly reckless.
Hard to say if the festival run translates to a streaming acquisition. Short films rarely attract platform deals unless they win major awards (the last short to generate significant streaming attention was arguably Two Distant Strangers, which won the Oscar in 2021 and landed on Netflix). But the festival circuit does generate the one thing Aakeel needs most right now: a director's credit that opens feature-length conversations.
Watch for submissions to BFI London Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and MAMI Mumbai in the second half of 2026. Those would be the strategically logical targets given the British production base and South Asian lead.
What Actually Happens Next
Lessons in Pretending is the setup, not the payoff. The real question is what Aakeel develops next on the writing and directing side, and whether any of the three platforms already in his acting portfolio moves first to back a feature.
According to Variety's original report, the film will "soon be on the festival circuit," which suggests submissions are already in motion as of May 2026.
Here's my read: this short lands at one mid-tier festival with enough critical traction to attract a feature pitch meeting by early 2027. Apple TV+ has the clearest incentive. Netflix has the scale. The CW has the least obvious fit for this material.
Movie OTT will track streaming availability across regions the moment distribution is confirmed. For now, the project worth watching is the one that hasn't happened yet—whatever Aakeel writes next, having proved he can direct.
