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L.A.'s Middle East Cultural Arts Center Fêtes 12th Year!

Subtitle: 
fiscal year ending, donations requested by June 30th

Can you believe it?!

We are just starting our 12th year serving greater Los Angeles. Don Heckman wrote the first LA Times article about us, positively reviewing our first public program, in a Calendar review published June 25, 2001. (We received another thumbs-up review in December 2001 by theatre critic Don Shirley and many more LA Times articles since.) 

New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema series

The fourth season of the New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema series will present as many as two dozen features, documentaries and short films in Los Angeles and Orange County, to foster a greater understanding of the Middle East and North Africa, and to afford provocative opportunities for meaningful dialogue, while working with major partners including the Arab Film Festival, UCLA, USC, Chapman University, the University of California at Irvine, and others.

Debut Saudi film by woman director, "Wadjda"

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Jun 21 2013 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Price: 
$13 for all regular screenings, conversations & talks
$11 for Film Independent members
$20 for Gala Screenings & Nights at the GRAMMY
$18 for Film Independent Members
$5 for all Future Filmmaker Showcase screenings (High School Programs)
Click here to buy tickets
Where: 
Regal Cinemas 13, Fri, Jun 21th 7:00 pm
1000 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90015
tel. 213.763.6070

LA Film Independent with support from the Levantine Cultural Center presents Haifaa Al Mansour's debut feature film and the first feature to be directed by a Saudi woman. Wadjda screens in the L.A. Film Fest's International Showcase, on June 21 (Germany, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, 2012, 97 mins, DCP). The film is in Arabic with English subtitles. (There is also a second screening on June 22, click here for info.)

Our Take on "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Argo"

Subtitle: 
While two films on the Middle East and their directors get all the attention, "Cloud Atlas" and "This Is Not a Film" deserve praise.

By Omid Arabian

Awards season is upon us again, and two of the most lauded films of the year deal with American involvement in the Middle East. At the top of seemingly everyone's list is Zero Dark Thirty—an account of the CIA's hunt for Osama Bin Laden, as told by director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal (Oscar winners for 2009's The Hurt Locker). The film has dusted up a sandstorm of controversy, with various politicians outraged by its suggestion that torturing prisoners was instrumental in the eventual discovery and capture of Bin Laden. On the critical front, however, the film is being almost unanimously praised for (among other things) its unflinching, objective, bias-free approach to historical events. As if such a thing were possible.

Jack G. Shaheen remembers 40 years of deconstrcting Arab sterotypes


Deconstructing stereotypes: Jack G. Shaheen remembers 40 years
of commitment to positive Arab and US
understanding in evening lecture

[Monday December 10, 2012] On Wednesday December 19th, The Levantine Cultural Center presents honored media critic and film scholar Dr. Jack G. Shaheen in an intimate discussion and forum on misleading stereotypes based on Hollywood's negative portrayal of Arabs. Shaheen will be discussing his life-long commitment to illuminate social justice, with insights into the highs and lows of his 40-year quest, including his mission to reveal and terminate these damaging Arab and Muslim stigmas.

"A is For Arab" Displays ABCs of American Media & Pop Culture Stereotypes

For Immediate Release
Please Contact Kameron Myles
951.990.4043
 NEW "A IS FOR ARAB" EXHIBIT AT THE LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER
DISPLAYS ABCs OF AMERICAN MEDIA & POP CULTURE STEREOTYPES
DEC. 1-31, 2012, RECEPTION DEC. 19, 7 PM

WHO: Jack G. Shaheen, media activist
WHERE: Levantine Cultural Center, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., LA 90035, street parking.
PRICE: Free to general public
INFO/RSVPs: Levantine Cultural Center, 323.413.2001, levantinecenter.org.

[Los Angeles-Monday November 27, 2012] Beginning Saturday, December 1st, the Levantine Cultural Center presents a fascinating new exhibit based on the work of film and media scholar Dr. Jack G. Shaheen's work: A is for Arab: Stereotypes in U.S. Popular Culture.

A New Novel Captures Life in Los Angeles and Beirut

Reviewed By Jordan Elgrably

[This Angelic Land, a novel by Aris Janigian, West of West Books, 2012]

Do you remember the early ‘90s in Los Angeles? Between the riots, the Northridge earthquake, OJ Simpson and the Malibu mudslides, it became an apocalyptic landscape, at once horrific, beautiful, and unforgettable.

Not unlike Beirut during its civil war, 1975-1990.

This Angelic Land: a novel by Aris JanigianThis Angelic Land: a novel by Aris Janigian

This Angelic Land is a novel set in Los Angeles during the 1992 Rodney King riots—the largest, most destructive civil uprising in American history. Adam Derderian, the central protagonist, is a 27-year-old Lebanese Armenian bar owner. The narrative shifts back and forth from his perspective to that of his brother, a New York-based artist five years his senior. The backdrop is their youth during the Lebanese civil war in Beirut—the longest civil war in modern history.

25 Years of Arab Creativity at the IMA in Paris

Subtitle: 
the world's largest Arab arts center celebrates its 25th anniversary with a comprehensive exhibition
By Jessica Proett and Erin Salokas

The Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) or IMA in Paris has just fëted its 25th anniversary featuring a comprehensive exhibition entitled "25 Years of Arab Creativity." The grand opening was held in an undulatory post-modern structure in the adjacent courtyard of the imposing nine-story Arab cultural center that is a Parisian focal point directly adjacent to the Seine River. Through February 3, 2013, the gallery presents forty Arab artists to showcase the diversity of the modern Arab experience in various countries through art. ("25 Years of Arab Creativity" also includes work in architecture and film.)

Deconstructing "Arab Rage"

Subtitle: 
Reza Aslan finds western reactions overblown
By Jessica Proett

During a two-hour talk in Paris last week, internationally acclaimed writer and Islam scholar Reza Aslan challenged the way we view violent protests against the "Innocence of Muslims" film in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere in the MENA. Aslan spoke at the Center for Political Research or Cevipof as part of a short tour hosted by the British Council, the European Policy Center and the Parliament in Brussels to talk about current affairs, namely the recent media exposure of "Innocence of Muslims" and the satirical cartoons then appearing in France.

Beyond "Arab Spring" & "Arab Rage," A Thriving Arab Market

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Oct 18 2012 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Price: 
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door
$40 with a signed book.
Students with I.D., $10
Click here to buy tickets
Where: 
Iman Cultural Center
3376 Motor Ave., Los Angeles CA 90034
Parking lot, street parking
Subtitle: 
Vijay Mahajan opens the door to marketing and business in the Arab world today

Vijay Mahajan, Ph.D., visited 18 Arab nations for his book that reveals a vibrant, bustling place full of commerce and consumers hungry for goods of almost every kind.