Graduate Film Professor Sameh Zoabi Directs Season 2 Premiere of “Accused”

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2024

Sameh Zoabi and Felicity Huffman on the set of "Accused"

Sameh Zoabi and Felicity Huffman on the set of "Accused" (Courtesy of Fox TV)

Tisch Graduate Film Professor Sameh Zoabi directed the second season premiere of the drama series Accused

Titled "Lorraine's Story", the episode stars Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy and will air on Tuesday, October 8th at 8pm ET on Fox, available next day on Hulu.

According to The Wrap, "the first episode of this new season will see Huffman as Lorraine, a woman who embeds herself into a family after claiming to see a psychic vision of their missing child".

Palestinian writer-director Sameh Zoabi was born and raised in Iksal, near the city of Nazareth. Zoabi graduated from Tel Aviv University with a dual degree in Film Studies and English Literature. Zoabi then received a Fulbright Fellowship to study Filmmaking at Columbia University, earning an M.F.A. in 2005.

Zoabi’s work has been shown in many international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Sundance, Karlovy Vary, and the New York Film Festival. A selection of Zoabi’s notable work includes a short film titled Be Quiet (2005), for which received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival—Cinefondation Selection. His feature film debut, Man Without a Cell Phone (2010), won several audience awards as well as the Golden Antigone at the 2011 Montpellier Film Festival. Soon after, Zoabi wrote the original script of The Idol (2015), which had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2018, Zoabi premiered his feature film, Tel Aviv On Fire at Toronto Film Festival and the 75th Venice International Film Festival, where the film received The Orizzonti Award for Best Actor. The film was a notable contender at the 2019 Academy Nominations representing Luxembourg. It was both an international commercial and festival success around the world, including the notable ASPA award for best screenplay.

Most recently, Zoabi directed "Samir's Story," which was featured in the first season of Accused, also on Fox Network and available on Hulu. Currently, Zoabi is in pre-production on the first season of his comedy TV show called “Handsome Groom.” 

Read more at The Wrap.