33-year-old Amira struggles to find her place in between her Arab and American identities while living with and navigating her relationship with her culturally traditional, yet loving mother.

Director’s Vision for ‘Me and You’

As an Arab-Chinese-American woman, minority representation is extremely important to me. Seeing myself, my family or those like me in popular media or films, however, has been near to nonexistent. With Ana Wa Enti, I aim to change that and hopefully the narrative surrounding the Middle Eastern community purported in media. Typically, the Middle Eastern community on film is shown in an extremist light and Arab characters are usually never the lead of a film, but rather the stock character antagonists. More specifically, the lives of woman are rarely shown beyond being the wife or mother characters and their sexuality is certainly never discussed. With Ana Wa Enti, I hope to bring an authentic portrayal of what it means to be an Arab woman, particularly one having grown up in America, and explore the balance between culture, family, and individuality.

Though I am speaking about a woman’s struggle through a cultural lens, Amira’s story transcends strictly the Middle Eastern community. She, like other woman before her and after her, simply wants to be free and have the right to chose what is right for her.