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...
By Crystal Allene Cook
Read about the "Art Knows No Borders" event on November 18, 2008.
Arriving in Yerevan, Armenia on a Fulbright in 2004 to research a novel, I had some specific things in mind. Once on the ground, making friends, talking to people, traveling, many of my preconceived notions of those things, and of myself, soon began to change.
No Borders: by Anna-Marie Lopez de LeonThis eclectic event benefitting Doctors Without Borders includes a silent art auction with work by dozens of contributing artists including Anna-Marie Lopez de Leon, and performances by the Middle Eastern-jazz fusion group Saffron Parade Arabesque Band, Tehran’s heavy metal band TarantisT, belly dancers, deejays and much more. Pic Vicious and Killsonic will perform later in the soirée.
A new bimonthly series of mixers, "Bridges L.A.," seeks to weave
together L.A.'s disparate cultural arts producers and nonprofit
activists to create stronger bonds of community and solidarity across
demographic boundaries.
Organized by Levantine Cultural Center, which bridges cultures of the
Middle East/North Africa through the arts to foster peaceful
coexistence and a more informed American public, "Bridges L.A." will
take place at social watering holes around the Southland, with the
first mixer slated for Tuesday, October 21, 6-8 p.m. at The Parlor in
Santa Monica.
An exhibit by Ara Oshagan at the The Center for Experimental Art and Architecture through October 17, 2008
Born in Beirut of Armenian heritage, with his degrees in Physics and English Literature from UCLA and a degree in Geophysics from UC Berkley, by day Ara Oshagan is a geophysicist and at other times an accomplished documentary photographer. Scion of Armenian poets, writers and educators, Oshagan is also an avowed novelist manqué who uses photography to narrate his community’s stories—or in the case of “Identity and Community”—interwoven Armenian and Ethiopian narratives. With “three skeletons of novels in my head,” nearly a decade ago he began taking photography to a higher level and has held several solo and group exhibits.
“We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.”
—Reda Zine, one of the founders of the Moroccan heavy-metal
scene
“Music is the weapon of the future.” —Fela Kuti
Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam: your purchase benefits LCC programmingMark
LeVine is the author of Why They Don't Hate Us, Unveiling the
Axis of Evil. In his new book, Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, you'll find an eighteen-year-old
Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from
the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marley’s
“Redemption Song.” They are as representative of the world
of Islam today as the conservatives and extremists we see every
night on the news. Heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae are each
the music of protest, and in many cases considered immoral in the
Muslim world. This music may also turn out to be the soundtrack
of a revolution unfolding across that world.
Conversational Arabic Classes, Winter 2009Register Today To Learn "Shami" Arabic Using Diverse Audiovisual Supplements Including Music and Film
Beginning Winter Session: Class meets Saturdays, 1:00-4:00 pm, Jan. 10-March 14, 2009. Instructor: Vivien Sansour.
Intermediate Winter Session: Class meets Mondays, 7:30-10:00 pm, Jan. 12-March 16, 2009. Instructor: Alfred Madain.
A Map of Home, by Randa JarrarA Map of Home recently won the prestigious Hopwood Award. Here's what one of our favorite Arab American writers/poets, Naomi Shihab Nye, had to say about this debut novel:
"Jazzy, and vastly intelligent and fun. Jarrar is a wonderworker
with delectable details and sweet swerves of surprise. I adore her
multicultural mix and her wry, punchy attitude and think she embodies
some crucial new-world Arab-American that I wish the whole world could
see, the old worlds and the smug self-satisfied pundits who think they
can know or guess what a creative spirit might really be. I turn to her
for gusto." - Naomi Shihab Nye