May returns to her childhood home in Jordan for her wedding. Shortly after reuniting with her sisters and their long-since divorced parents, a blitz of familial and cultural conflicts cause May to question the life step she is about to take. May in the Summer Written & Directed By Cherien Dabis

May returns to her childhood home in Jordan for her wedding. Shortly after reuniting with her sisters and their long-since divorced parents, a blitz of familial and cultural conflicts cause May to question the life step she is about to take. May in the Summer Written & Directed By Cherien Dabis
May in the Summer Film Poster

ABOUT THE FILM

In our ongoing effort to spotlight diverse female filmmakers, we are proud to support May in the Summer, the sophomore feature by Palestinian-American writer-director Cherien Dabis. An intimate, character-driven film, it explores terrain rarely seen on screen – the emotional impact of building a life across multiple geographies, where the idea of “home” remains both deeply rooted and perpetually unsettled.

Rated R | 99 Minutes | USA | Drama

May in the Summer Film Poster

ABOUT THE FILM

In our ongoing effort to spotlight diverse female filmmakers, we are proud to support May in the Summer, the sophomore feature by Palestinian-American writer-director Cherien Dabis. An intimate, character-driven film, it explores terrain rarely seen on screen – the emotional impact of building a life across multiple geographies, where the idea of “home” remains both deeply rooted and perpetually unsettled.

Rated R | 99 Minutes | USA | Drama

TRAILER

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CAST

  • Hiam Abbass

    as Nadine

  • Cherien Dabis

    as May

  • Nadine Malouf

    as Yasmine

  • Bill Pullman

    as Edward

  • Alia Shawkat

    as Dalia

  • Ritu Kamal Singh

    as Anu

Sundance Film Festival Logo

May in the Summer premiered on Opening Night of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

Venice Film Festival Logo
BFI London Film Festival Logo
Dubai International Film Festival Logo

REVIEWS

“

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.

Daily BeastMarlow Stern
“

A buoyant comedic drama…Dabis is smart enough to balance broadly accessible comedy with sharply drawn, three-dimensional characters and a personal, reflective sensibility.

LA WeeklyScott Foundas
“

...but “May in the Summer” gains added potency from its cross-cultural tensions and the drama the characters face in reconciling tradition with modern life.

The New York TimesBen Kenigsberg
“

(Bill Pullman plays) her absent, inadequate father – now remarried to a young Indian woman, memorably played by Ritu Kamal Singh.

SBS.com
“

Disarmingly humorous, sharply observed and deeply affecting…forges new ground in American film.

The Huffington PostSandra Ramos O'Briant
“

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.

IndieWireEric Kohn