Cherien Dabis (‘04) is one of 20 accomplished female filmmakers from around the world who have been chosen to participate in the Fox Global Directors Initiative, a new multi-year program by the studio to develop the talents and networking pools of promising women directors.
“Our 20 Director Fellows are a reflection of the many talented directors who are at the core of great, authentic entertainment,” said Dana Walden, Chairman and CEO, Fox Television Group. “These amazing women have achieved tremendous recognition for their work, and they represent exactly the kind of globally diverse creative talent that we want to be in business with here at Fox.”
Cherien Dabis is an award-winning film and television writer, director, producer and actor. She began her career in television when she joined the writing staff of Showtime’s groundbreaking original hit series The L Word in its third season, where she rose up the ranks to co-producer. She went on to make her feature writing and directorial debut with Amreeka, which world-premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the coveted International Federation of Film Critics Award in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes and went on to win a dozen more international awards. Dabis was also named one of Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” in 2009 and is the recipient of dozens of grants and fellowships. She is an alumna of the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab, Film Independent Directing Lab and Tribeca All Access, where she was honored with the first ever L’Oréal Paris Woman of Worth Vision Award. Her most recent feature, May in the Summer, another Sundance success, will be released in digital format in 2015.