Cherien Dabis

Cherien Dabis was invited to speak at the annual ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) convention this year. She shared some of her life experiences growing up in the midwest and on the making of the movies itself.

I find this interview very interesting besides her being obviously intelligent, graceful and charming. Many good questions and some very interesting points were raised about the movie as well. and I like/agree with many of the answers she gave. By the way please ignore the noisy ships in the background.

Amreeka

Interesting movie by an Arab American director/producer, Cherien Dabis, a christian Arab American with (Jordanian/Palestinian) parents who imigrated to the US right before she was born. The name is pronouned Shereen but spelled Cherien in French. The movie chronicles the live of a Palestinian women of non religious Christian background immigrating to the US from the occupied territory of the West Bank; I am mentioning her religion so some Muslims will not be confused. Many Muslims also still think that all Arabs are muslims not just the nonMuslims thinking this way by the way.

A part of an interview with Cherien;





And here is the trailer;





It is just too funny (if you familiar with the culture), warm and tender. I love it just through watching the trailer. It has successfully portray Palestinian Arab families and the culture very well. As well as capturing the hardship of new immigrant adjusting to a new life in an unfamiliar environment. By the way the actress who play the mother and the boy who play the son are both Palestinian who have lived in the West Bank. Job well done to the producer. There are many reviews on this movie if you search the internet. Many have lots of good things to say, out of fifteen reviews I would say maybe two will have nothing much to say about it. I personally can't wait to see it. The movie is rated PG13 due to language and some drug use.