We would like to honor Cherien Dabis, a Palestinian-Jordanian-American filmmaker, producer and actor as June's Empowered Arab Woman of the month. Dabis was born in Nebraska to Palestinian and Jordanian parents. She obtained her Bachelors in creative writing and communications from the University of Cincinnati and her Masters in Fine Arts from Columbia University. Through her own experience as an Arab woman living in the United States, Dabis has been able to share stories of Arab women and the ways in which stereotypes and traditions affect their everyday lives through her films. Her film, Amreeka, shares the story of an Arab immigrant family living in the states exposed to the post 9/11 culture and how the negative stereotypes imprinted on Arabs as a result affects their daily lives. The film went on to win numerous awards and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. In 2009, she was named one of Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch.”
“May in the Summer,” one of her more recent films, shares the story of a Christian Arab-American woman who travels back to her family’s home in the Middle East in preparation for her wedding. The film explores the dynamics of family relationships and the influence of religion and culture in relation to the distraught state of the character’s mother towards the idea of an inter-religious marriage. In an interview with GOOD magazine, Dabis stated that she, “wanted to portray strong Arab women. It’s very much a movie about four Arab women who are speaking their own inner truths, struggling to be who they are in a family, in a culture, and in a society that has so many expectations of who they should be.”
ΕΑΣ admires Dabis' power and ability to share our stories depicting the ways in which social, religious and political terms impact the identities and relationships of Arabs living in the Middle East and in the United States. Her ability to relate our common struggle to art is not only comforting but an inspiration and we await her future works.
ΕΑΣ admires Dabis' power and ability to share our stories depicting the ways in which social, religious and political terms impact the identities and relationships of Arabs living in the Middle East and in the United States. Her ability to relate our common struggle to art is not only comforting but an inspiration and we await her future works.
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