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Amreeka - Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Cherien Dabis

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Director Cherien Dabis's auspicious début feature, Amreeka, is a warm and light-hearted film about one Palestinian family's tumultuous journey into Diaspora amidst the cultural fallout of America's war in Iraq.

Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour), a Palestinian single mum, struggles to maintain her optimistic spirit in the daily grind of intimidating West Bank checkpoints, the constant nagging of a controlling mother, and the haunting shadows of a failed marriage. Everything changes one day when she receives a letter informing her that her family has been granted a US Green Card. Reluctant to leave her homeland, but realising it may be the only way to secure a future for Fadi (Melkar Muallem), her teenage son, Muna decides to quit her job at the bank and visit her relatives in Illinois to see about a new life in a land that gives newcomers a run for their money... Do they have what it takes to successfully occupy the heartland?

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film drama immigrant Palestine Green Card USA culture shock Illinois War on Terror racism Arab

Persons of interest

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
Vanessa Mayberry .... Sammy
Glen Thompson .... Nelson
Cherien Dabis .... Screenwriter
Cherien Dabis .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Amreeka official movie sites:

Australia
International

Amreeka film production notes
Amreeka QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Cannes Film Festival 2009: Won: FIPRESCI Prize Director's Fortnight (Cherien Dabis)
Sundance Film Festival 2009: Nominated: Grand Jury Prize Dramatic (Cherien Dabis)

NB: Arabic and English language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Sharmill Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

It was established in The lemon tree (Etz limon) that it sucks to be a Palestinian in Israel. Amreeka shows us that it sucks to be a Palestinian in the USA, too.

The drama movie Amreeka is directed by Cherien Dabis and stars Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass.