Cherien Dabis – Kuwait/Canada/US – 2009

Amreeka follows the lives of Muna and her son Fadi, who both win the Green Card lottery in order to move to the United States. Initially they are incredibly happy, although they have to leave their home country and their city in the occupied West Bank, Bethlehem. But for Muna, the security of her son Fadi, a young adolescent who is the target of the Israeli security apparatus, is more important then her connection to the homeland. When they arrive in the US, Muna accidentally loses all her savings which she had put in an old cookie box.

The story covers several increasingly pressing topics, such as identity and Diaspora, and how to deal with the fact that we might have to leave everything behind. How to fit in in the new country, with its own culture, and people who apparently have stereotypical assumptions about one’s background? Set in small-town middle class America, the movie is perhaps also a bit autobiographical, since the director, Cherien Dabis, was born in small town Nebraska herself.

With: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem

Duration: 96 minutes

Language: Arabic, English (English subtitles)