American Arab

Usama Alshaibi, an Iraqi-American filmmaker, confronts the issues on identity and perception toward Arab-Americans in today's society. Alshaibi conveys to the audience that Arab-Americans should not be put into one, big, identical group; rather the culture consists of a diverse group of identities and voices.

“American Arab is a gift, an important document and beacon of hope for a community and people too often misunderstood, with disastrous consequences.” — CAAMFest

“It’s giving voice to people who have been marginalized—and when they are presented in mainstream American media, it’s rarely from their perspective… At the same time, the movie doesn’t feel confrontational. It feels like the start of a conversation, rather than a provocation.” — Chicago Reader

“Alshaibi has deep roots in the underground, having made narrative and documentary films that push both thematic and stylistic boundaries. His 2007 film Nice Bombs documents his trip back to Baghdad to see his father shortly after the Iraq War broke out. American Arab picks up this thread of personal narrative and explores what it means to be an Arab-American, post-9/11. Further, in the great tradition of American personal documentary film, Alshabi also struggles with what it means to be a filmmaker who happens to be Arab-American. Less concerned with aesthetics than ideas, he uses the camera as a tool to dig for answers about identity, art and filmmaking that are often overlooked.” —International Documentary Association

“Probes what you might call the Arab-American dilemma… Alshaibi’s family is smart and complicated, and you immediately have an emotional connection to these people.” — Chicago Tribune

“Identity is a funny thing. We like to think of ourselves in concrete, non-shifting terms, but our identity is constantly shifting. Arab. American. Artist. Father. Son. Brother. Alshaibi is all of these things. He is also one of our most important filmmakers, a fact further defined by this engaging and enlightening documentary.”
– Underground Film Journal