Institute History
Description
My Habibi is a love story set in the disorienting years just after September 11, 2001, in New York City. When Aziz and Gena meet in a club, neither of them thinks their relationship will last more than the night. But once Aziz has led Gena through the Lincoln Tunnel to the apartment he shares with other Moroccans new to the city and she invites him to her place in Brooklyn full of photographs she has taken, they’re both intrigued.
Newly freed from the constraints of his conservative family and the Muslim culture he has left behind, Aziz can’t believe his good luck. Gena’s own struggle with her Christian missionary background only makes her more exhilarated by Aziz’s brashness. On his initiative, the two travel to Morocco, where Gena meets his family, unaware that she has been introduced as his fiancée. Their travels together and her photography begin to reveal the cultural distance that separates them and the emotional compatibility that unites them.
Convinced they can be together, they return to New York, only to encounter the arrest warrant that awaits Aziz. After Aziz has spent a night in police custody, accused of credit-card fraud at the restaurant where he works as a waiter, everything changes for both of them.