Hiam Abbass and Nisreen Faour: the two Palestinian actresses play sisters in "Amreeka"By Catherine Batruni

Under the watchful eyes of 18- and 19-year-old Israeli soldiers at frequent checkpoints between Bethlehem where she lives, and East Jerusalem where she works, Palestinian bank teller Muna's daily life is not easy, but it's also not uncommon in the Occupied Territories. This however, is only the start of Cherien Dabis' debut film "Amreeka," which is much more about a single mother and her teenage son who take a chance and start over in Illinois at the same time that the American forces invade Iraq in 2003.

The film addresses the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of immigrating to a foreign country; the mother and son duo encounter racial profiling and distrust because they're Arabs, but they also meet generosity and benevolence. First-time writer/director Dabis documents the family's attempt to blend in to a new and unfamiliar society and the resulting cultural clashes, triumphs, joys, homesickness, and displacement.

Writing for the Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt calls "Amreeka" "A heartfelt, fully realized comic drama about Palestinian immigrants in the American heartland." David D'Arcy of Screen Daily states "Dabis directs 'Amreeka' with a sure hand which takes the film beyond the clichés and sentimentality of the standard immigrant saga."

Newcomer Cherien Dabis"Amreeka" stars stage actress and director Nisreen Faour as Muna, the mother, and Melkar Muallem as her son Fadi. Yussef Abu-Warda, a familiar face in Israeli films (the bilingual actor, an Arab, plays both Israelis and Palestinians) as a character actor, plays Nabeel, Muna's brother-in-law. Veteran actress Hiam Abbass, whom we saw most recently in Eran Riklis's "The Lemon Tree" and in Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor" before that, plays the role of Muna's sister Raghda. Selected out of hundreds of film submissions, the film ran in the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and won the top prize. "Amreeka" also picked up the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Look for "Amreeka" in a theater near you this September.

Read an interview with Cherien Dabis.

Read a profile of Cherien Dabis from the Institute for Middle East Understanding.