Cherien Dabis
Directing
Biography
Cherien Dabis (born November 27, 1976) is a Palestinian-American director, producer, and screenwriter. Her father is Palestinian and her mother is Jordanian. She spent many of her childhood summers in Jordan. Following a series of racist and Islamophobic incidents against her family when she was 14 years old, Dabis began wanting to change the way in which Arabs were portrayed in Western media. She went on to receive her B.A. with honors in creative writing and communications from the University of Cincinnati and her M.F.A. in film from Columbia University School of the Arts. She began her career as a writer with the television series The L Word from 2006 to 2008. Dabis's first short film, Make a Wish, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and received awards at the Aspen Shortsfest, the Cairo International Film Festival for Children, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. She made her feature film debut with Amreeka, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and opened to critical praise at other notable venues. Her second feature film, May in the Summer, screened at Sundance's opening night in 2013. Dabis's films are somewhat autobiographical, as she aims to represent the unique perspective of being raised between the Middle East and the American Midwest. Her films take on themes of immigration, discrimination, cultural assimilation, and family. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cherien Dabis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
A powerful family drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne.
Empire
A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.
Ozark
The story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there's almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Fallout
Three strangers share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one.
Only Murders in the Building
In a small New York town, a haunted detective hunts for answers about perplexing crimes while wrestling with his own demons.
The Sinner
A group of lesbian friends struggle with romance and careers in Los Angeles.
The L Word
A diverse group of recruits has arrived at the FBI Quantico Base for training. They are the best, the brightest and the most vetted, so it seems impossible that one of them is suspected of masterminding the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11.
Quantico
16-year-old Henry Coles is an outsider in her new town of Reston, New York. With a major chip on her shoulder and no friends, she remains withdrawn and isolated, but everything changes when a traumatic encounter with a classmate triggers something deep within Henry— unleashing a power she cannot control.
Impulse
Eight interconnected stories told over 33 years explore how our planet’s changing climate will affect family, work, faith—and survival.
Extrapolations
In Texas, Mo straddles the line between two cultures, three languages and a pending asylum request while hustling to support his Palestinian family.
Mo
Ramy, the son of Egyptian immigrants, is on a spiritually conflicting journey in his New Jersey neighborhood, pulled between his Muslim community that thinks life is a constant test, his millennial friends who think life is full of endless possibilities, and a God who's always watching.
Ramy
Meet Bess King, a uniquely talented performer struggling to fulfill her dreams while handling rejection, dating drama, and family issues. This is a story about finding your authentic voice—and the courage to use it.
Little Voice
Shortly after arriving in New York City, 22-year-old Tess lands a job at a celebrated downtown restaurant. Swiftly introduced to the world of drugs, alcohol, love, lust, dive bars, and fine dining, she learns to navigate the chaotically alluring, yet punishing life she has stumbled upon.
Sweetbitter
In the Occupied West Bank in Palestine of the 1980s, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan, shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of ethnic cleansing, but the unbreakable spirit of survival.
All That's Left of You
George Fahmy, Egypt's most adored actor, is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like moth drawn to flame, he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the project.
Eagles of the Republic
An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry.
This Changes Everything
Eager to provide a better future for her son, Fadi, divorcée Muna Farah leaves her Palestinian homeland and takes up residence in rural Illinois -- just in time to encounter the domestic repercussions of America's disastrous war in Iraq. Now, the duo must reinvent their lives with some help from Muna's sister, Raghda, and brother-in-law, Nabeel.
Amreeka
A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce.
May in the Summer
Meet Blanche Monroe aka The Evil Stepmother, an out-of-work daytime drama queen. When her stunning stepdaughter (Snow White) is discovered by a hotshot Hollywood agent, Blanche wreaks her revenge.
Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother
The story of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968.