Films & Events
Amreeka
A regular routine of West Bank checkpoints, a dead-end bank job, and reminders of a failed marriage make Muna Farah’s life an uphill battle. Winning a U.S. green card lottery, Muna capitalizes on the opportunity she’s been waiting for—a chance for her and her son Fadi to start anew. However, their move to America corresponds with the invasion of Iraq and the pair find themselves in a political environment brewing with tension. As they settle in with Muna’s sister and husband, their attempts to acclimate to cookie-cutter Chicago suburb go amiss. Fadi suffers the two-fold alienation of being a teenager and an Arab, while Muna’s relentless job searching proves futile. Forced to the brink of financial crisis, the highly experienced and capable Muna secretly takes a job as a fast food employee. Offering an authentic glimpse into the Palestinian situation, director Cherien Dabis filmed the first part of the story in the West Bank. Effortless in its depiction of displacement and the struggles of cultural identity, Amreeka also portrays the confusion of first-generation teenagers caught between their parents’ ethnic heritage and the Western world in which they live. Director Cherien Dabis expected to attend both screenings
Cast & Crew
Director: Cherien Dabis
Producer: Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin
Editor: Keith Reamer
Screenwriter: Cherien Dabis
Cinematographer: Tobias Datum
Music: Kareem Roustom
Principal Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat
Filmography: Debut Feature Film
US Distributor: National Geographic Films
World Sales: Maximum Films
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(1 review)
user reviews
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Truthful and telling, Jun 05, 2009
By Mimi Noyes
“This very real and touching film about a Palestinian woman and her son who move to America shortly after the events of 9/11 is handled with great honesty and directness, at times difficult to watch even though it is laced with hopefulness and good humor. When their life in Palestine becomes too”
… full review
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