May In The Summer will star Dabis and Hiam Abbas.

Memento Films’ Alexandre Mallet-Guy will produce the next film from Cherien Dabis, whose Amreeka won the FIPRESCI Prize after its run in Cannes Directors Fortnight in 2009.

The script for the new film, May In The Summer, recently won the Sundance/NHK international filmmaker award marking the second time Memento FilmsProduction is involved with a film that has taken the prize - the first was Gyorgy Palfi’s Taxidermie in 2005.  

May in the Summer will star Dabis and Hiam Abbas in a romantic comedy in the vein of Nadine Labaki’s sleeper hit Caramel. The mostly English-language picture will shoot in Jordan this summer where the film will follow the secrets, lies and loves of three Arab American sisters and their strong-willed, single mother.

A co-production between France’s Memento and the US’ Verisimilitude and Displaced Picture, the producers are Mallet-Guy, Alex Orlovsky, Hunter Gray and Dabis.

Memento has also acquired two films out of Sundance for French distribution: Another Happy Day by Sam Levinson and On The Ice by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean.

Happy Day won the script prize in Sundance last month and stars Ellen Barkin and Demi Moore. Memento acquired the film from Voltage.

On The Ice, which Coach14 is selling in Berlin where it is running in the Generation sidebar, is an Alaska-set thriller. Memento acquired it from WME.

Finally,  Memento is selling Berlin competition title Nader And SImin, A Separation from director Asghar Farhadi. The film is a psychological thriller set in modern day Tehran and will be released by Memento in France.