To all appearances, May Brennan (Cherien Dabis) has it all intelligent, gorgeous, the recipient of raves from her recently published book and set to marry her loving fiancé Ziad (Alexander Siddig), a distinguished New York scholar. But immediately upon returning to her familial hometown of Amman, Jordan for the wedding, the cracks in her seemingly perfect life begin to show.
Cherien Dabis is a critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated Palestinian American film and television director, writer, and actor dedicated to telling complex, authentic stories about under and misrepresented communities. Esquire Middle East recently named her amongst “The Esquire 40: Meet the Arabs Who are Changing Film and TV.” Last year, Dabis was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for the critically acclaimed and groundbreaking episode “The Boy From 6B” on Hulu’s hit show “Only Murders in the Building”, starring comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short alongside Selena Gomez. Other episodic directing credits include Hulu’s breakthrough comedy “Ramy” and Netflix’s “Ozark.” Her television writing and producing credits include Showtime’s original, groundbreaking series, “The L Word” and Fox’s hit, “Empire.” Dabis got her start with her debut feature Amreeka, which she wrote and directed. The film premiered at Sundance in 2009 and went on to win the coveted FIPRESCI International Critics Prize in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. It won a dozen more international awards and was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, 3 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture, and named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. It landed Dabis on Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” list that same year. Dabis made history when the film broke records in its theatrical release.
