Directing
Cherien Dabis
Born 1976-11-27 · Omaha, Nebraska
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.
Acting credits
7.9After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
All That's Left of You
2025
6.9George 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
2025
6.2An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry.
This Changes Everything
2019
5.9A 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
2014
5.9Three unmarried aristocratic Christian sisters from Ramallah have shut themselves in their villa clinging desperately to their former glory, until their orphan niece, Badia, walks into their life and turns their world upside down.
Villa Touma
2014
Behind the camera
7.9After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
All That's Left of You
2025
7.9After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
All That's Left of You
2025
7.9After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
All That's Left of You
2025
5.9A 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
2014
5.9A 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
2014
6.7Eager 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
2009
6.7Eager 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
2009
4.4Goth-girl Cindy admires beautiful Laurie from afar, until the night when she dresses as a boy for the prom. Will this gender-bending Cinderella find true love when she leaves behind her little black boot?
Little Black Boot
2004
An account of a young Palestinian woman living in the West Bank from the early 1980s up until 2003, including a period when her mother-in-law moved in during the Israeli invasion of Ramallah in March 2000.
Sharon and My Mother-in-Law
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An account of a young Palestinian woman living in the West Bank from the early 1980s up until 2003, including a period when her mother-in-law moved in during the Israeli invasion of Ramallah in March 2000.
Sharon and My Mother-in-Law
—
An account of a young Palestinian woman living in the West Bank from the early 1980s up until 2003, including a period when her mother-in-law moved in during the Israeli invasion of Ramallah in March 2000.
Sharon and My Mother-in-Law
—
3.0Meet 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
2004
3.0Meet 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
2004
The story of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968.
The Fighting Shirley Chisholm
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4.0A NYC parody of that 'other' Sapphic series. Dot, artistic director of a downtown theatre, and her partner of 7 years, Dina, a crunchy-granola dyke, are looking for a sperm donor to expand their family. They throw a party to find him amongst the guests of their close circle of friends: Daynisha, a closeted WNBA player; Dixie, a bisexual journalist into S & M; Drea, the resident Butch heart-throb and dog groomer; Dex, Dot's younger FTM musician sibling; Dim, their next door neighbor chess coach and his newly arrived girlfriend Dani, a playwright curious about life in NYC; and Daria, the proprietor of the Drunken Pussycat, a bar where everyone gathers to gossip and kvetch. All of them struggle through much dyke drama in the Big Apple.
The D Word
2005
4.0A young Palestinian girl will do whatever it takes to buy a birthday cake.
Make a Wish
2006
4.0A young Palestinian girl will do whatever it takes to buy a birthday cake.
Make a Wish
2006
Movie Details
Not Another Word
2013