''Amreeka'' is a 2009, independent film written and directed by first-time director
Cherien Dabis
Cherien Dabis (born 1976) ( ar, شيرين دعيبس) is an American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. She was named one of ''Variety'' magazine's ''10 Directors to Watch'' in 2009, and in 2022 was nominated for the Outstanding Dir ...
. It stars
Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem,
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass ( ar, هيام عباس, he, היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director.
Personal life
Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised ...
,
Alia Shawkat
Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; ar, عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Old Man'', '' State of Grace'', Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom '' Arrested Devel ...
, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Joseph Ziegler, and Miriam Smith.
''Amreeka'' documents the lives of a
Palestinian American
Palestinian Americans ( ar, فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that they arrived dur ...
family in both the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and
Post-9/11
The post-9/11 period is the time after the September 11 attacks, characterized by heightened suspicion of non-Americans in the United States, increased government efforts to address terrorism, and a more aggressive American foreign policy.
Pol ...
suburban
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It premiered at the
2009 Sundance Film Festival
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.
Award winners
*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public''
*Grand Jury Prize ...
and opened to critical praise at a number of other important venues.
National Geographic Entertainment bought all theatrical and home entertainment rights to ''Amreeka'' after its debut at Sundance''.''
Plot
Muna Farah (
Nisreen Faour) is a divorced
Palestinian Christian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
mother raising her teenage son Fadi (Melkar Muallem). She works for a bank in
Ramallah, part of the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
,
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...
. Each day after work, Muna picks up Fadi from school and crosses through an
Israeli checkpoint
An Israeli checkpoint ( he, מחסום, ''mahsom'', ar, حاجز, ''hajez''), is a barrier erected by the Israeli Security Forces, primarily today part of the system of West Bank closures in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The checkpoints a ...
in order to get to their home in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
. She lives with her aging mother and has occasional visits from her brother Samer. One day after arriving home, Muna discovers that she has been awarded an
American green card through the lottery.
Although she initially considered declining the offer, Muna reconsiders after she and Fadi are harassed at the checkpoint by Israeli soldiers.
They arrive in the United States shortly after the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
to stay with her sister's family in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. After a difficult time with
customs, Muna is reunited with her sister, Raghda Halaby (
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass ( ar, هيام عباس, he, היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director.
Personal life
Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised ...
), physician brother-in-law Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda) and their three children Salma (
Alia Shawkat
Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; ar, عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Old Man'', '' State of Grace'', Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom '' Arrested Devel ...
), Rana (Jenna Kawar), and Lamis (Selena Haddad). Later, however, Muna discovers that a box of cookies was confiscated during the customs search and is horrified: the box contained all of her life savings.
Muna thus searches for work, but is disappointed to discover that her multiple degrees and work experience do not guarantee the kind of employment she is seeking. She finally takes a job at
White Castle. Too ashamed to tell her family the truth, she pretends to have been hired by the bank next door to White Castle. She maintains the facade through the help of an employee of the bank next door to White Castle (Miriam Smith) and her blue-haired high school drop-out co-worker, Matt (Brodie Sanderson).
Meanwhile, Muna begins to discover that her sister's family has been experiencing difficulties in the
Post-9/11
The post-9/11 period is the time after the September 11 attacks, characterized by heightened suspicion of non-Americans in the United States, increased government efforts to address terrorism, and a more aggressive American foreign policy.
Pol ...
and Iraq war atmosphere of the United States. The family receives anonymous threats in the mail and Nabeel is continually losing patients from his medical practice. They are also behind on their mortgage and risk losing their home. The strain of living in this atmosphere becomes so severe that Raghda and Nabeel temporarily "separate" and Nabeel moves into the basement of the family home.
Later, when some of the students make derogatory remarks to Fadi, he gets into a fight and his mother is called to meet with the school's principal Mr. Novatski (Joseph Ziegler). Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Novatski sees Muna waiting for her sister and insists on driving her to work. He apologizes to her for the behavior of the students towards Fadi saying that they are influenced by the media's depiction of
Muslims.
Muna is dismayed by the stereotypes he describes to her. She also informs him that she and Fadi are not Muslims, but are rather from a minority community. Embarrassed by his assumption, Mr. Novatski apologizes and says that he is a minority as well as an
American Jew
American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora ...
whose grandparents were
Polish Jews
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...
. She is surprised to learn that he is Jewish. Muna asks him to drop her off at the bank but forgets her purse, an act which leads him to discover that she works secretly at White Castle. Deciding to have a meal there, they discover that they are both divorced.
On another day, local high school students make discriminatory remarks about Fadi to Muna while she is working in White Castle. She chases them out, only to slip on a drink one of the boys poured on the floor and falls flat on her back. Matt immediately calls her family who then discovers her secret. Furious over the incident, Fadi gets into a fight with one of the boys and is subsequently arrested. In addition to assault, ambiguous charges are also leveled towards him that are serious enough to prevent Muna from getting him released. Muna contacts Mr. Novatski who rushes to the police station and tells the officers that the accusations are without merit and that he will assume responsibility for Fadi. Fadi is thus released from jail. These events also lead Raghda and Nabeel to reconcile.
A little while later, Muna is working at White Castle and her family comes to take her to a
Middle Eastern restaurant for dinner. While leaving she bumps into Mr. Novatski and invites him to join them for dinner. Raghda teases Muna when he enters the car and the evening ends with music and dancing.
Cast
Production
Dabis began working on the screenplay for ''Amreeka'' while a graduate student in film at
Columbia University School of the Arts in 2003.
Christina Piovesan, a producer in Toronto, read about Dabis in ''Filmmaker Magazine,'' thus leading the two of them to collaborate on '"Amreeka." Over the next three years, Piovesan gathered financing from a number of sources in the Middle East and Canada.
Dabis also traveled for months in order to hold casting auditions in New York,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
Dearborn,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
, Paris,
Amman,
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Bethlehem and Ramallah.
In choosing
Nisreen Faour for the lead role of Muna, Dabis commented that she "had a sweetness about her ... a kindness and a childlike sense of wonder. There was something about her that was so youthful, and yet, I could still see in her eyes the depth of sadness that her life experience had given her."
On the choice of Melkar Muallem as Fadi, Dabis commented that he was, "the son of a Palestinian woman who helped cast the film. He wanted nothing to do with acting—both parents are actors, and he's only interested in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
. I begged him to audition, and after he did, he wanted the part."
Muallem is from
Ramallah, one of the locations for the film. Dabis also chose to work with film and television actors Hiam Abbass and Alia Shawkat and a theater actor from
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, Yussef Abu Warda.
Dabis modeled the family after her own, making them Christian Palestinians.
Events surrounding the inclusion of a kind high school principal were taken from Dabis' own life. While in high school, serious accusations were leveled at her sister, who was saved by the intervention of the school principal. Dabis chose to make her fictional version of this principal, Mr. Novatski (Joseph Ziegler), Jewish-American in order to create parallel experiences related to "immigration and displacement."
In another interview Dabis stated that she included this because in the United States Arabs and Jews are friends and "we don't get to see that enough."
The scenes in the West Bank were shot on location in Ramallah while the portion of the film set in Illinois was shot in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
. Dabis states that she chose to work in Canada rather than the United States because of "the tax incentives combined with the fact that Manitoba offered us provincial equity for shooting the film there. That was huge! It enabled us to close our financing and go into production sooner rather than later."
The scenes in the Halaby home were set in the house of a local Palestinian family from Ramallah with three daughters close in age to the characters in the film.
[ White Castle was also "an enthusiastic supporter of the film" and contributed "a truckload of real White Castle supplies."][
]
Music
The closing song of the film was "Jawaz al-safar" ("Passport") by Marcel Khalife
Marcel Khalifé ( ar, مرسيل خليفة; born 10 June 1950 in Amchit) is a Palestinian- Lebanese musical composer, singer, and oud player.
Biography
In 1983, Paredon Records (later acquired by Smithsonian Folkways) released ''Promises ...
, based on a poem by Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...
.
Critical reception
As of June 7, 2013, ''Amreeka'' has received an overall rating of 87% from Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
(61 ''fresh'' and 9 ''rotten'' reviews). On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "Generally Favorable" reviews. American critic Roger Ebert gave ''Amreeka'' three and a half out of four stars and described it as "Cherien Dabis's heart-warming and funny first feature."
Awards
2011
2011 Intersections Film Festival
*''Official Selection: Opening Night''
2010
2010 Heartland Film Festival
The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...
*Won: One of ''Top Ten Truly Moving Pictures'' For 2009
2010 Independent Spirit Awards
*Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best Film
The Independent Spirit Award for Best Film (or Best Feature) is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards, presented to recognize the best in independent filmmaking, it was first awarded in 1985 with Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorses ...
*Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It was first presented in 1994 with David O. Russe ...
*Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead – Nisreen Faour
2010 NAACP Image Awards
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...
*Nominated:Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
2009
2009 Cairo International Film Festival
* Won: Best Arabic Film – Cherien Dabis (director), Christina Piovesan (producer)
* Won: Best Arabic Screenplay – Cherien Dabis (director)
2009 Cannes Film Festival
The 62nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 May to 24 May 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. Twenty films from thirteen countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 23 M ...
* Won: Fipresci Prize
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...
– Cherien Dabis
* ''Official Selection'': Directors' Fortnight
The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...
2009 Dubai International Film Festival
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF, ar, مهرجان دبي السينمائي الدولي) is the leading film festival in the Arab region. The 12th edition of DIFF took place from December 9 – 16, 2015. In 2018, the DIFF announc ...
* Won: Muhr Award, Best Actress: Nisreen Faour
Gotham Independent Film Awards 2009
The 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, were held on November 30, 2009. The nominees were announced on October 19, 2009. The ceremony was hosted by Kumail Nanjiani.
Winners and nominees
Go ...
*Nominated: Best Feature
2009 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
*Won: One of Top Ten Independent Films.
2009 New Directors/New Films Festival
The New Directors/New Films Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City, and organized jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society o ...
* ''Official Selection: Opening Night''
2009 Sundance Film Festival
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.
Award winners
*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public''
*Grand Jury Prize ...
* ''Official Selection: Dramatic Competition Sundance''
2007
The screenplay was presented with the $15,000 Tribeca All Access L'Oréal Paris Women of Worth Vision Award.
DVD
The DVD of the film was released on January 12, 2010. It contains a number of deleted scenes and outtakes. It also includes director Cherien Dabis
Cherien Dabis (born 1976) ( ar, شيرين دعيبس) is an American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. She was named one of ''Variety'' magazine's ''10 Directors to Watch'' in 2009, and in 2022 was nominated for the Outstanding Dir ...
' short feature, '' Make a Wish'', which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chic ...
and received a number of awards at other festivals.
See also
* List of cultural references to the September 11 attacks
References
Further reading
* Khayat, Rasha.
From the West Bank to Small-town America
" 2010.
* Legel, Laremy.
" September 27, 2009.
* Matchan, Linda.
A story she needed to tell
" September 25, 2009.
External links
*
*
{{Cherien Dabis
2009 films
2009 drama films
American drama films
2000s Arabic-language films
Canadian drama films
2000s English-language films
English-language Canadian films
English-language Kuwaiti films
English-language Israeli films
English-language Palestinian films
Israeli–Palestinian conflict films
Kuwaiti drama films
Palestinian drama films
Films about immigration to the United States
Anti-Arabism in North America
2009 directorial debut films
2009 multilingual films
American multilingual films
Canadian multilingual films
2000s American films
2000s Canadian films