You’re invited to a virtual reading of Cherien Dabis’ Alfred P. Sloan Athena List Development Grant-winning script. The story of Iraqi American pediatrician and Flint water crisis whistleblower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, “What the Eyes Don’t See” is getting a reading May 24 at 7 p.m. EST. A Q&A will follow.
Presented by Athena Film Festival and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the event is open to the public. Be sure to register in advance.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Athena List Development Grant awards $20,000 to an Athena List winner or finalist for a screenplay centering on a woman in science. The Athena List is Athena Film Fest’s annual selection of the best unproduced scripts featuring women leaders.
Find event details, a synopsis for “What the Eyes Don’t See,” and Dabis’ bio below.
Synopsis: “What the Eyes Don’t See” is the true story of Iraqi American pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who blew the whistle on local and state government officials for exposing tens of thousands of Flint, Michigan residents to disastrous levels of toxic lead in the water.
Bio: Cherien Dabis is a renowned film and television writer, director, and actor. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Palestinian immigrant parents and raised between small town Ohio and Amman, Jordan. Studying dance and theater in her youth, she went on to earn her MFA in film from Columbia University. Her trailblazing feature films “Amreeka” (2009) and “May in the Summer” (2013), in which she made her acting debut, both had their world premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. “Amreeka” went on to win the coveted FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at Cannes as well as a dozen more international awards. It was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture, and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. Dabis is currently in development on her third feature, “What the Eyes Don’t See,” a 2020 Athena List winner and recipient of the 2018 Sundance Sloan Commissioning grant.
Dabis has worked extensively in television as a writer and director. Her credits include Showtime’s original groundbreaking series “The L Word,” “The Sinner,” “Empire,” and Emmy award-winning “Ozark.” She’s also a co-executive producer and director on two seasons of Hulu’s critically acclaimed Golden Globe-winning “Ramy.” She also has several television pilots in development.
Dabis is the recipient of dozens of grants and fellowships from Creative Capital, Guggenheim, USA Rockefeller, Tribeca Film Institute, New York Foundation for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, National Geographic, and the New York State Council on the Arts. She is an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, Film Independent Director’s Lab, and Tribeca All Access. She has been an advisor for the Sundance Institute’s Native Filmmaker’s Lab and Screenwriter’s Labs in both Turkey and Jordan and has returned several times to teach in the graduate film program at her alma mater, Columbia University.
