INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SHORT FILMS
Short-shorts and shorts: docs and features: 1m-15ms

After decades of war in the post-colonial Middle East, statesmen and women of the region—particularly the battle-fatigued Israelis-have finally understood something about war and peace that most of us have known all along: there is no military solution to our problems. Lines will be drawn and peace will be achieved through negotiated agreements—or there will be no lasting peace for anyone...

Levantine Cultural Center (LCC) and the University of California at Irvine (UCI) are seeking short film submissions for ROSEWATER DIPLOMACY, a new film anthology to contain shorts ranging from 1 to 15 minutes each. The theme is peace and the future of the Middle East, but comedy, satire, drama, experimental, and documentary are all acceptable genres. Indeed, short films can be in any style or genre and encompass opinions, personal experiences, historical or contemporary issues, and are encouraged to be diverse in content and theme.

We're calling this unique compilation ROSEWATER DIPLOMACY because throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa, rosewater is used in favorite desserts and sometimes in coffee. Fragrant but strong coffee and fattening desserts will be served wherever men and women are sitting down to work out national borders and other political disputes.

This compilation will benefit from two particular events. First, ROSEWATER DIPLOMACY will be given to several hundred conference attendees on January 31, 2009, when LCC-UCI present WHITHER THE LEVANT: The Crisis of the Nation-State: Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, a day-long conference with film screenings, author panels and a symposium on the future of the region under the Obama Admistration.

Secondly, there will be an industry screening event for ROSEWATER DIPLOMACY at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, with a Q & A among filmmakers and the audience, in March 2009.

Submissions should link in some way to Arab, Iranian or other Middle East cultures. Films with particular interest in peace as related to Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, and American relations with the region, are of certain interest.

Levantine Cultural Center is an independent non-profit arts organization with a mission to broaden perspectives on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the media and the public eye. We emphasize the dialogue of cultures and encourage an alliance of civilizations between the Arab/Muslim world and the United States. Levantine Cultural Center views the arts and cultural expression as influential in terms of helping to bring about social change, and focuses on creative and intellectual work that broadens the discourse between "East" and "West."

Submit all films/videos in DVD format no later than December 30, 2008. There is no fee for submissions. International submissions must be subtitled in English. You must include a one-sheet synopsis and filmmakers' bios along with your name, address, phone number and email. Submissions will not be returned. Send submissions to: Rosewater Diplomacy, Levantine Cultural Center, 1012 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90035.