May El Koussa is an Assistant Professor at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA, University of Balamand), where she was appointed Director of Studies in 2021, and then Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in 2023. After pursuing a practical path in experimental cinema and video art with a BFA in Visual and Performing Arts from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, she entered the field of research in "Film Studies" through her studies at the University of Paris 1 – Panthéon, Sorbonne. In 2013, she earned a Ph.D. in "Arts and Art Sciences," with a focus on "Cinema and Audiovisual" from the same university. In 2014, she began her teaching experience at ALBA and contributed to the development of the School of Cinema and Audiovisual Production curriculum by offering innovative courses in the field of Film Studies. She teaches courses in Cinema and Methodology of Research in various schools within the Academy, alongside her engagement in other universities in Lebanon. She also served as the Coordinator for the Film History and Film Analysis courses from 2018 to 2021.

As a researcher, she has been an associate member of the ACTE Institute (Arts, Creation, Theory, Aesthetics) – Paris 1, Panthéon – Sorbonne since 2009. Her book entitled 'Through the Dynamics of Tears in Cinema – Sirk, Kieslowski, Bergman' was published in 2023 by L'Harmattan in the 'Champs Visuels' collection, where she further develops ideas from her thesis regarding tears in cinema through an aesthetic and interdisciplinary approach. Her articles are published in peer-reviewed international journals and appear as book chapters of internationally renowned collective works. Her research focuses on European, Mediterranean, and Lebanese cinemas, as well as issues related to erasure, tears in cinema, and more recently, the role of philosophy (primarily the concepts of Michel Foucault and Maurice Merleau-Ponty) in film analysis.