amreeka
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“Narrating Our Struggle”: Cherien Dabis on Palestinian Stories and Rejecting Censorship
“Dad, I want to be a filmmaker,” I pronounced at 12 years old, from our home in rural Ohio. “You can’t be a filmmaker,” my father responded. You’re Palestinian. No one will care what you have to say.” I was shocked. You’re wrong, I said to myself, rejecting his statement outright. Yet his words have continued to haunt me. My first memory of traveling to Palestine to visit our native village was when I was eight years old. Armed Israeli soldiers held my family at the border for 12 hours. They picked through the contents of our suitcases. My father […]
by Cherien Dabis on Jun 30, 2021 -
“AMREEKA” writer-director, Cherien Dabis
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 17, 12:15 pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] I didn’t respond to the changes in the way people are beginning to view cinema today. My story development process, which began back in 2003, was very much influenced by my own personal experience and my need for authenticity, especially in light of the political issues that rose to the forefront after 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq. From the start I knew that I wanted to craft a universal story and imbue it with humor so that it was accessible and relatable to a mass audience, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 17, 2009 -
Cherien Dabis, Make a Wish
MAKE A WISH. This article is part of Filmmaker’s Sundance 2007 Special Coverage. Supported by numerous prestigious grants — including the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant, the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant, and National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant — Itmanna (Make a Wish), the most recent short film by writer/director, Cherien Dabis, will quickly follow its Sundance bow with screenings at Berlin and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. A former media activist and public relations specialist in Washington D.C., Dabis is the daughter of Palestinian/Jordanian immigrants, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 20, 2007
