American actress, writer, and director Lena Dunham has been chosen by Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams to tell the story of a Syrian refugee’s survival at sea. The film will be an adaption of Melissa Fleming’s biographical book ‘A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea,’ which depicts the struggle of Doaa Al-Zamel as she flees the dangers of the Syrian Civil War. This true story has been described as harrowing and eye opening to the strife of Syrian refugees.

There have been a number of criticisms, primarily through social media, about the choice of Dunham to adapt said story. Some believe that a Syrian writer or director with familiarity of the culture of Syria should helm the production. We at mxdwn Movies are familiar with the issues of whitewashing in films, yet it would seem that the film has no choice but to use Syrian actors and actresses. However, these criticisms have found little ground as there has been no altering of Dunham’s position as of yet.

Dunham took to twitter yesterday to show her gratitude of being chosen to recount this story for film saying she is, “Very lucky to have this job, to tell this story, to support this truth with these people.” The project has its home at Paramount Pictures and will be produced by Abrams’ and Spielberg’s production companies, Bad Robot and Amblin Entertainment respectively.  

Very lucky to have this job, to tell this story, to support this truth with these people. ❤️ https://t.co/EgcRfKA0ks

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) October 29, 2018