Amreeka is a 2009 film written, produced and directed by Cherien Dabis, her feature film debut. although he has directed several short films.

Amreeka The drama focuses on a single immigrant mother, Muna (Nisreen Faour) and her teenage son, Fadi (Melker Muallem) who move to a small town in Illinois.

Amreeka premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2009, and was later screened at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. It is programmed to be a limited opening on 4 September 2009.

Synopsis
AMREEKA follows the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, your teenager, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of the small Illinois town. … AMREEKA follows the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, your teenager, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of the small Illinois town.

He said with sincere humor writer-director Cherien Dabis in his film debut, universal AMREEKA is a journey into the life of a family of immigrants and first generation youth caught between his heritage and the new world in which they live and the bittersweet search a place to call home.

Dabis AMREEKA family recalled memories of his life in rural America during the first Iraq war. The film stars actress Haifa Nisreen Faour trained as Muna and newcomer Melker Muallem as his 16 year-old son, Fadi. “Arrested Also starring: Hiam Abbass (The Visitor) Alia Shawkat (TV Devlopment”), Yussef Abu Warda and Joseph Ziegler. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, AMREEKA was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin.

Named one of “Variety of ten Directors to Watch” in 2009, the award-winning independent filmmaker Cherien Dabis makes his feature writing and directorial debut with AMREEKA. Dabis is a graduate of the Master’s program at Columbia University Film Fine Arts.

AMREEKA made its world premiere in Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and played at Opening Night of New Directors / New Films, co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. AMREEKA, which screened at the Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival 2009, was awarded the prestigious Critics’ at the Festival of the International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI.

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Directed by Cherien Dabis
Produced by  : Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin
Written by Cherien Dabis

Cast
* Nisreen Faour … Muna Farah
* Melkar Muallem … Fadi Farah
* Hiam Abbass … Raghda Halaby
* Alia Shawkat … Salma
* Jenna Kawar … Rana Halaby
* Selena Haddad … Lamis Halaby
* Yussuf Abu-Warda… Nabeel Halaby
* Joseph Ziegler … Mr. Novatski
* Andrew Sannie … James
* Daniel Boiteau … Mike
* Brodie Sanderson… Matt

Music by Doug Bernheim
Editing by Keith Reamer
Distributed by :  National Geographic, Entertainment, Imagenation
Release date(s)
September 4, 2009 (limited)
Fall 2009
Running time 96 min.
Country United States
Language  : English, Arabic

Official website: www.amreeka.com