'' Amreeka '' documents the lives of a Palestinian American family in both the West Bank and Post-9 / 11 suburban Chicago . It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and opened to critical praise at a number of other important venues . National Geographic Entertainment bought all theatrical and home entertainment rights to '' Amreeka '' after its debut at '' Sundance . '' Muna Farah ( Nisreen Faour ) is a divorced Palestinian Christian mother raising her teenage son Fadi ( Melkar Muallem ) . She works for a bank in Ramallah , part of the West Bank , Palestinian territories . Each day after work , Muna picks up Fadi from school and crosses through an Israeli checkpoint in order to get to their home in Bethlehem . She lives with her aging mother and has occasional visits from her brother Samer . One day after arriving home , Muna discovers that she has been awarded an American green card through the lottery . Although she initially considered declining the offer , Muna reconsiders after she and Fadi are harassed at the checkpoint by Israeli soldiers
2009 Sundance Film Festival
2009 Sundance Film Festival
Amreeka