September 10, 2009

If you live in New York or Los Angeles, please go out and support the new Arab American movie "Amreeka," from young writer/director Cherien Dabis. Featuring a complex, funny, and moving story of Palestinian immigrant families making their way in the U.S. across multiple generations, the film is a milestone in the portrayal of Arab Americans.

The film has gotten resoundingly positive reviews from newspapers around the country, including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

"This is a pointed, emotional story of a divorced Palestinian woman and her son who immigrate to the U.S. just after the invasion of Iraq, a story that benefits from Dabis' background as a child growing up in the Midwest during the Gulf War as the daughter of a Palestinian father and a Jordanian mother," writes L.A. Times reviewer Kenneth Turan. "So the filmmaker understands from personal experience that immigration sagas are at once the saddest, the happiest and the most quintessentially American of stories."

And the Hollywood Reporter raves: "Dabis, a Palestinian-American, has thoroughly re-energized the genre with refreshing wit, honest emotions, incisive observations and a perfect cast she literally flew around the world to find."

With the release of the acclaimed feature film "Amreeka," National Geographic is working with an unprecedented array of community and cultural partners committed to bringing the first Arab-American film made by an Arab-American to audiences everywhere. In addition, the film was produced by a group of mostly Arab women: Jordanian-Palestinian-American Cherien Dabis (who also wrote and directed), Lebanese-Palestinian-Canadian Christina Piovesan, co-produced by Kuwaiti Al-Zain Al-Sabah and executive produced by Lebanese-American Alicia Sams and Levantine Entertainment.

For the first time in its history, National Geographic -- internationally known for documentary films, photography and magazine publishing -- is backing an Arab American feature movie, and is receiving broad support from Arab, Jewish and other organizations across the country.

-- Fatima Mohammed (fatima@mpac.org)
Hollywood Liaison