Arab American Heritage Month
As we celebrate Arab American Heritage Month, let’s continue to lift up films by Arab American filmmakers and amplifying stories about Arab American communities. Please join us in celebrating Arab American Heritage Month by watching some of these films directed by Film Fatales members:
Are You Glad I’m Here directed by Noor Gharzeddine
A millennial American girl befriends a Lebanese housewife and disrupts her ordered life; one night they become accidental partners-in-crime.
Detroit Unleaded directed by Rola Nashef
A fresh take on boy-meets-girl comedy set in Detroit. An ambitious Lebanese-American youth is forced to take over his family’s gas station after his father’s death
Habibi Rasak Kharban directed by Susan Youssef
Set in Gaza, this film is a modern retelling of the forbidden love story between 7th century Arab poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his one and only Layla.
Jaddoland directed by Nadia Shihab
When the filmmaker returns to her hometown in the Texas panhandle to visit her mother, an artist from Iraq, she turns her lens on her mother’s increasingly isolated life, as well as the beauty and solace that emerge through her creative process. Jaddoland explores the meaning of home and the search for belonging across generations.
Lift Like a Girl directed by Mayye Zayed
With the guidance of her relentless coach, a teen weightlifter emerges from a scrappy training camp in Egypt to compete at the championship level.
May in the Summer directed by Cherien Dabis
A woman of American-Jordanian parentage returns home to Amman to plan her wedding, but family chaos and clashing values erupt over her Muslim fiance.
Speed Sisters directed by Amber Fares
The Speed Sisters are the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. Weaving together their lives on and off the track, SPEED SISTERS takes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.
The Feeling of Being Watched directed by Assia Boundaoui
When journalist Assia Boundaoui investigates rumors of surveillance in her Arab-American neighborhood in Chicago, she uncovers one of the largest FBI terrorism probes conducted before 9/11 and reveals its enduring impact on the community.
The Brain That Sings directed by Amal Al-Agroobi
A 6-year-old boy and an 18-year-old, both living with autism in the United Arab Emirates, hopefully attend three months of music therapy.
He Belongs to Us directed by Gigi Hozimah
Remy is a lonely and neglected New Yorker who is haunted by an array of demons. Coming to terms with both the death of his mother and his depression, Remy’s vivid nightmares begin to take a sinister hold of his very existence.
Salma’s Home directed by Hanadi Elyan
Three Arab women living in modern day Jordan must put their differences aside and work together.
Suspended Wives directed by Merieme Addou
While men in Morocco are allowed to marry again six months after they have been separated, for women to get divorced is an almost insurmountable bureaucratic undertaking. Ghita, Latifa and Saadia are attempting it nonetheless.
As I Want directed by Samaher Alqadi
In 2013 a crowd of enraged women take to the streets after a string of severe sexual assaults occur in Tahrir Square on the second anniversary of the revolution in Cairo.
