May seems to have it all until she travels to Jordan to plan her wedding. There, she runs into family chaos. Her mother threatens to boycott the wedding; her younger sisters treat her like a mother; and her estranged father suddenly returns. Distinct from the well worn immigrant narratives familiar to American independent film, May in the Summer charts terrain rarely explored on screen: the emotional impact of building a life across multiple geographies- especially when the promise of return to one's homeland continues unfulfilled
In her endeavor to gain credibility, respect and power for diverse female filmmakers; Durga Entertainment celebrates May in the Summer, a sophomore feature by Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis.
“Filmmaker Cherien Dabis’s charming ‘May in the Summer’ kicked off Sundance with two of the festival’s traditional themes: family dysfunction and cultural reassimilation. Get ready for the wedding of the year.”
– The Daily Beast“A bouyant comedic drama…Dabis is smart enough to balance broadly accessible comedy with sharply drawn, three-dimensional characters and a personal, reflective sensibility.”
– LA Weekly“(Bill Pullman plays) her absent, inadequate father – now remarried to a young Indian woman, memorably played by Ritu Singh Pande.”
– SBS.com“Disarmingly humorous, sharply observed and deeply affecting…forges new ground in American film.”
– The Huffington Post“Its storytelling alone makes May In The Summer stand out from the industry standard for this form of pre-wedding drama…one could pigeonhole it as a Jordan-set chick flick, but it’s so much better than any given category applied to it.”
– Indiewire