National Geographic Entertainment Kicks Off Screening Tour For ’Amreeka’ With Unprecedented List Of Partners

Tour Runs Aug. 17-Sept. 24; Film Opens in New York, Los Angeles Sept. 4

LOS ANGELES - With the release of the acclaimed feature film “Amreeka,” National Geographic Entertainment announces an unprecedented array of community and cultural partners committed to bringing the film to audiences everywhere. An 11-city film screening tour co-presented by these partners will run from Aug. 17 to Sept. 24. Cherien Dabis, “Amreeka”’s writer-director, will travel with the tour.

“Amreeka” premiered in the dramatic competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was also the opening night film at New Directors/New Films, a program of the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center in New York City, and at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival 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” 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 Muallen 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.

SCREENING SCHEDULE
New York City
Aug. 17
Location: Walter Reade Theater
Partners: Film at Lincoln Center; ArteEast; Sundance Institute; Alwan for the Arts; Muslim Public Affairs Council

New York City
Aug. 18
Location: Museum of Modern Art (members’ screening)

Irvine, Calif.
Aug. 19
Location: Edwards Westpark 8
Partners: Levantine Cultural Center; Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Access California Services

Los Angeles
Aug. 20
Location: Writers Guild Theater
Partners: Levantine Cultural Center; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Sundance Institute; Film Independent; Progressive Jewish Alliance; ImaginAction; Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area

San Francisco
Aug. 27
Location:
Partners: Arab Film Festival; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; San Francisco Film Society; American Friends Service Committee, Middle East Program

Dearborn, Mich.
Aug. 29
Location: Arab American National Museum
Partners: Arab American National Museum; Green Light Film Funding; National Outreach; ACLU of Michigan; Arab Detroit; Mike Mosallem

Chicago
Aug. 31
Location: Gene Siskel Film Center
Partner: Chicago Palestine Film Festival

Washington, D.C.
Sept. 2
Location: National Geographic Society Headquarters
Partners: National Geographic All Roads Film Project; Arabian Sights Film Festival; Washington Jewish Film Festival; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Embassy of Jordan; Arab American Institute; The Jerusalem Fund

Boston
Sept. 3
Location: Museum of Fine Arts
Partners: Boston Palestine Film Festival; Grassroots International; Center for Arabic Culture; American Jews for a Just Peace; Northeast Regional Office, Amnesty International USA; National Association of Arab Professionals - Boston

San Diego
Sept. 8
Location: AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres
Partner: Cinema Society of San Diego

Dallas
Sept. 10
Location: Angelika Film Center
Partner: Dallas Film Society

Houston
Sept. 12
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Partners: Levantine Entertainment; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Houston Palestine Film Festival; Women in Film & Television, Houston

Boston (pending)
Sept. 24
Location: Harvard Film Archives (pending)
Partners: Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School; Harvard Society of Arab Students (pending)

Additionally, the film has the support of American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, American-Arabs Anti-Discrimination Committee - Chicago; Project Nur, American University; Arab American Cultural & Community Center; Arab American Family Services; Advisory Council on Arab Affairs, City of Chicago; Center for Contemporary Arabic Studies, Georgetown University; Golden Thread Theatre; JCC of Dallas; J-Street; Jewish Palestinian Living Room Dialogue; Jewish Voice for Peace; Middle East Forum; Middle East Institute, Columbia University; Middle East Policy Council; Midwest Federation of Syrian and Lebanese Clubs; Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Arab American Action Network; Near Eastern Studies Student Association, University of California Berkeley; PAWA SoCal; Ramallah Club of LA; Students for Justice in Palestine, San Diego State University; United Muslims of America; World Cultures at San Diego City College, MIT Arab Students Organization; and others.

High-resolution images are available for download:
Photography available at www.imageevent.com/amreeka
EPK/Broadcast materials available at www.epk.tv

See the trailer at www.amreeka.com.

About National Geographic Entertainment
National Geographic Entertainment combines into a single operating group National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures, Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio. NGE is part of National Geographic Global Media, bringing together all of National Geographic’s editorial platforms to streamline collaboration and support the Society’s mission. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, television, radio, music and film. It funds over 250 scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program promoting geography literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.