Movies Towelhead Is The Arab-American Beauty

Life kinda sucks for Jasira, the main character in Towelhead. Based on Alicia Erian’s successful novel, the movie version was directed by Alan Ball (the writer of American Beauty and creator of HBO’s Six Feet Under). After her mom’s boyfriend starts getting all pedo on her, 13-year-old Jasira is sent to live with her Lebanese father in Texas during the '90s Gulf War. Thanks to some racist small town shenanigans, she’s forced to deal with her ethnicity as an Arab girl for the first time. Meanwhile, her budding womanhood draws the attention of neighbor Aaron Eckhart.

Lead actress Summer Bishil'who is actually 19 and part Indian, not Arab'is definitely a dime in the making. With a heavy dose of suburban desperation, forbidden teenage love, and Alan Ball’s direction, this flick could get some of that American Beauty Oscar buzz when it drops in August. Watch the trailer after the jump.