Amreeka

Amreeka chronicles the adventures of Muna (Nisreen Faour), a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi (Melkar Muallem), her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small-town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle. Told with heartfelt humor by writer/director Cherien Dabis in her feature film debut, Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Co-starring Hiam Abbass (The Visitor, Lemon Tree). 

Director:

Cherien Dabis

Cast:

Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda, Joseph Zieglern

Reviews:

Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan

The New York Times, Stephen Holden

Boston Globe, Wesley Morris

Seattle Times, John Hartl

Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert

Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Calvin Wilson