Jordan has selected Cherien Dabis’ drama All That’s Left Of You as its entry to the international feature film category of the 98th Academy Awards.

The multi-generational drama follows a Palestinian family over the arc of decades from the loss of their citrus orchards in 1948 to the present day. It is loosely inspired by the experiences of U.S.-born Dabis’ family, which hails from Palestine and Jordan.

The drama revolves around a Palestinian teenager who gets swept up in a West Bank protest and his mother who recounts the family’s generation-spanning story of hope, courage and relentless struggle since 1948 that led to this fateful moment.

The cast features Saleh Bakri, Adam Bakri, Mohammad Bakri, Cherien Dabis and Maria Zreik.

The film premiered to acclaim at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

It has since won a number of prizes including the Golden Gate Award and Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival; the GIO Audience Award for Best International Feature at the Sydney Film Festival, and both Best Film and Best Screenplay at the Malaysia International Film Festival.

Jordan’s selection committee is made up of six Jordanian professionals and experts in the audio-visual field, with the Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) overseeing the process after a month-long open call for submissions across July.

Dabis is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and actress, who has established herself as a singular creative force across film, television and performance.

Widely recognized as a pioneer of Arab American storytelling, she brings authenticity, complexity and humor to the narratives she writes, directs and performs, spotlighting underrepresented perspectives with heart and humanity.

She first broke through with her debut feature Amreeka, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival before winning the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes.

The film went on to collect more than a dozen international awards, three Independent Spirit Award nominations, and a Gotham Award nomination for Best Picture. That same year, Variety named Dabis one of “Ten Directors to Watch.”

Dabis made her acting debut in her second feature, May In The Summer, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and screened in Venice, earning her the Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker Award.

In television, she directed and executive produced episodes of Ramy, Mo, and Ozark, and guest-starred in Gotham.

Her Emmy-nominated work on Only Murders in the Building—notably the acclaimed Boy From 6B episode – solidified her reputation as a visionary storyteller.

All That’s Left Of You is lead produced by Thanassis Karathanos, under the banners of his Germany-based companies Twenty Twenty Vision and Pallas.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will announce the shortlisted films for the 2026 Oscars on December 16^, and the nominated films on January 22, 2026.  

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 16, 2026.