Land of Plenty

Plot

The movie presents a view of post-9/11 United States as seen through the eyes of Lana (Williams), an American girl who has lived in Africa and the Middle East for years with her missionary parents. She is returning from a long trip to the West Bank. In Los Angeles, she works at a homeless mission and looks up her only living relative in the US, her late mother's brother, Paul (Diehl). He is a paranoid Vietnam veteran who drives around filming and spying on Arabs and people with Arab features. Lana, in contrast, leans toward anti-war convictions and has been changed by her experiences abroad, so feels outside American culture.

Having first-hand knowledge of the Middle East and Africa, she sees similarities between the slums of Los Angeles and those of the Third World. After she and Paul see the murder of a young Pakistani outside the mission, they take his body to his family. Their road trip offers Paul a different view of Muslim home life. Over the course of the film, Paul and Lana learn more about each other.

Production

The film was shot using the digital and hand-held Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera, so the production time was cut to a minimum.

In the United States, the film was distributed by IFC Films.