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Amreeka Back in Michigan by Popular Demand
The film Amreeka is back in Michigan at the Maple Art Theatre, 4135 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 48301.
The movie is showing daily at 2:15, 4:15, and 7:00. Friday at 2:15pm, 4:15pm and 7:30pm.10:00pm, Saturday at 12:20, 2:30, 4:45, 7:30 and 10:00 and Sunday at 12:20, 2:30, 4:45, and 7:30.
Tickets are available online at:
https://tickets.landmarktheatres.com
/Landmark.aspx?TheatreID=251
With the release of the acclaimed feature film “Amreeka,” National Geographic Entertainment is proud to be working with an unprecedented array of community and cultural partners committed to bringing the first Arab-American film made by an Arab-American to audiences everywhere.
In addition, the film was produced by a group of mostly Arab women: Jordanian-Palestinian-American writer-director Cherien Dabis (who shot parts of the film in the West Bank), Lebanese-Palestinian-Canadian Christina Piovesan, co-produced by Kuwaiti Al-Zain Al-Sabah and executive produced by Lebanese-American Alicia Sams and Levantine Entertainment. An 11-city film screening tour co-presented by these partners is currently underway and Dabis, “Amreeka”’s writer-director, is traveling with the tour. A list of opening theaters also follows.
“Amreeka” premiered in the dramatic competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; was opening night film at the prestigious New Directors/New Films, a program of the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center in New York City; and in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. “Amreeka” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, with a national rollout to follow.
“’Amreeka’ is one of the rare films that tells a story of courage and heart, with a healthy dose of humor, and perfectly captures the universal story of American immigrants through the lens of a brilliant Arab American filmmaker,” said Lisa Truitt, president of National Geographic Cinema Ventures. “We are proud to present this film to as many audiences as possible with the support of a large and impressive group of cultural partners, so that this story can be shared by communities everywhere.”
“Amreeka” is the first Arab American feature film to receive major distribution. The film portrays Arabs as they are: everyday people facing the same challenges that all other immigrants encounter. Film scholar Jack Shaheen writes, “‘Amreeka’ will take its place in film history as the first Arab American feature film to depict Arabs and Arab Americans as ordinary everyday human beings. It is the first such film to receive major distribution in a system that favors blockbusters over more sensitive indie fare. In ‘Amreeka” we observe a caring, loving family that is an integral part of the American landscape, coping with growing teens, house payments, overcoming discrimination, losing weight and just trying to fit it while maintaining a connection to their roots. The everyday problems of this immigrant family touch our hearts; I loved this beautiful film. Don’t miss it!” (Dr. Jack G. Shaheen is the author of GUILTY Hollywood’s Verdict On Arabs After 9/11)
Hany Abu-Assad, director of the film “Paradise Now,” 2006 Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee offers, “The film speaks in a profound way about many aspects of the Arab American experience. It is a very important film for two reasons: not only does it give us a chance to see our own stories being told, it gives other Americans an opportunity to empathize with our experience.”
Alesia Weston, Associate Director, Feature Film Program International, Sundance Institute, a program Dabis participated in, adds, “Amreeka explores difficult subject matter with such heart, warmth and humor that it can’t help but draw you in. You feel a great tenderness for the characters. You see yourself in them and them in you. Stories like these can make us feel like we are in a conversation with something larger than ourselves and a little more connected.”
“Amreeka” chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with her 16-year-old son Fadi, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small-town Illinois. Told with heartfelt humor by Dabis in her feature-film debut, “Amreeka” is a universal journey into the lives of immigrant families and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they live, and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Written and directed by Dabis and loosely based on her own family’s story, “Amreeka” stars Nisreen Faour as Muna; Melkar Muallem plays her son. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler. “Amreeka” was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Dabis and Gregory Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers.
National Geographic Entertainment presents a National Geographic/Imagenation Abu Dhabi release in association with Levantine Entertainment, a First Generation Films Production, an Alcina Pictures-Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production, produced in association with Manitoba Film & Music, Rotana Studios and Showtime Arabia.