Event Details

Date/Time: 

Dec 20 2011 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Price: 

Contribution requested (min. suggested $100)
Click here to RSVP with donation

Where: 

The Palm
1100 S. Flower StreetLos Angeles CA 90015
RSVP by Dec. 15 to 310.657.5511

At 11th and Flower across from the Staples Center
free valet parking at lunch behind the restaurant

The arts help create a safe space for exploration of potentially difficult issues. The Middle East is the birthplace of our civilization. It is where Judaism, Christianity and Islam-three faiths with much in common-originate. The Middle East is also the primary resource for our energy needs and where we have many strategic partners, from Turkey and Israel to Saudi Arabia.

By Jeff Neff

One of my special interests is supporting efforts to bring hope and care to the children of the world, either through my own outreach or by contributing to the efforts of others. So it was that on on Saturday, September 24th, I had the distinct pleasure to attend the annual Benefit Gala Dinner "Healing Hands" of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), marking 20 years of the incredible work this non-profit accomplishes in bringing much needed medical care to the children of Palestine and other nations of the Middle East.

By Tamim Ansary

For decades or perhaps even centuries, disparate societies around the globe have been growing more and more intertwined. A single world culture is emerging; or at least the history of the world as told in different places is merging into the single history of us all.

By Mark LeVine

It's not often that heavy metal bands from the Middle East make it to the States, but in July the Sunset Strip witnessed what was surely the first meeting of three powerhouses of Middle Eastern metal on its hallowed ground—Egypt, Iraq and Iran.

Musician-scholar Mark LeVineFor well over a millennium they have been rival centers of Islamic culture, and more recently have been political rivals. Much more recently they have been home to three of the most intense metal scenes not merely in the Middle East, but in the world.

Nothing makes for a good metal scene like war and oppression, and Iran and Iraq have had about as much of both as any country could take. Egypt has been safe from war the last three and a half decades, but the mercifully ended rein of Hosni Mubarak was among the region's most effectively repressive for most of that period.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Sep 11 2011 5:00pm - 8:00pm

Price: 

Suggested donation $11 (students $5) includes light refreshments (no-one turned away for lack of funds) to benefit the center

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90035
ample street parking
between La Cienega and Fairfax

Activists, artists, writers and members of the general public are invited to participate in a community roundtable discussion on the events of 9/11, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the passing of the USA Patriot Act, the "war on terror," Islamophobia, the Green Movement in Iran in 2009, and this year's Arab Spring and just what we can look forward to in the months and years ahead.

Reviewed by Jordan Elgrably

The international independent feature The Devil's Double comes off as a sort of glossy Middle Eastern gangster epic replete with blazing guns and psychotic outbursts. The film offers a highly stylized yet emotional experience of the years when Saddam Hussein's evil empire was characterized by the long Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait, the Gulf War, and the dastardly exploits of his spoiled and dangerous son Uday. It is without doubt one of the first feature films to deal with doppleganger identity themes set in the Middle East. Both Uday and Saddam have their look-alikes in this narrative, but the story focuses on the supposed real-life exploits of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi army lieutenant who bears an unfortunate resemblance to Uday and becomes his fiday (body double or "bullet catcher").

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jul 7 2011 9:00pm - Jul 8 2011 12:30am

Price: 

$10 advance purchase
Click here for Brown Paper tickets

Where: 

Whisky A Go-Go
8901 West Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood CA 90069

On Thursday July 7, Angelenos will have the rare opportunity to catch some of that heavy metal Baghdad you've already heard so much about, when Iraq's Acrassicuada or "Black Scorpions" play live at the venerable Whisky A Go-Go. Opening for them is the female-fronted Egyptian metal band, Massive Scar Era.

By Lina Sergie Attar

In Consumption of War, the latest installation by Iraqi-Finnish artist Adel Abidin, one stands in a room, between projection and reality, watching an absurd "war" break out between two corporate figures. The film leaves us in physical and metaphoric darkness, questioning not only the artist's intention but also our implication within the narrative. Throughout his work over the last decade, exploring issues of identity, memory, exile, violence, war and politics, Abidin has harnessed the power of ambiguity.

MIDDLE EAST CENTER LOOKS AT IRAQ, MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT THROUGH THE LENS OF THEATRE IN PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS/PERFORMANCES JUNE 17

For Immediate Release [Los Angeles, May 23, 2011] As a topic of conversation, Iraq typically conjures up images of war and the U.S. military occupation that began in March 2003. Rarely do Americans have an opportunity to learn about the long history of theatre in Iraq, nor about theatre arts throughout the Middle East. Where can Americans learn more about Iraqi and Middle Eastern theatre and how it can bridge our cultural differences? On Friday, June 17, 7pm, the Levantine Cultural Center will present FROM BABYLON TO HOLLYWOOD: How Theatre Bridges the U.S. and the Middle East, an evening of performances, readings and conversation devoted to Iraq and theatre within the Arab/Muslim World. The evening is co-presented by Golden Thread Productions of San Francisco and Theatre Without Borders.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jun 17 2011 7:00pm - 10:30pm

Price: 

$30 general admission, $50 preferred admission
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Levantine Center at the Woman's Club of Hollywood
1746 N. La Brea Ave.
Hollywood CA 90046
just north of Hollywood Blvd.
parking behind the building and at the nearby church
corner of La Brea and Hollywood

On Friday, June 17, the Levantine Cultural Center will present FROM BABYLON TO HOLLYWOOD: How Theatre Bridges the U.S. and the Middle East, an evening of performances, readings and conversation devoted to Iraq and theatre from/to the Arab/Muslim World. The evening is co-presented by Golden Thread Productions of San Francisco and Theatre Without Borders.