MES Film Series presents: Amreeka

Amreeka (2009) Directed by Cherien Dabis, 96 minutes This feature film debut by writer-director Cherien Dabis chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, 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. Amreeka offers a glimpse 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 search for a place to call home.