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.

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.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jan 17 2013 7:00pm

Price: 

Suggested donation, $10/$20 with a signed copy of "This Angelic Land"
complementary snacks provided

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
Between La Cienega Blvd & Fairfax Ave
ample street parking

Levantine Cultural Center presents "Los Angeles-Beirut," a literary exploration of the two cities through the eyes of two Beirutis transplanted to Los Angeles and an American-born novelist whose recent book tells the story of a Beiruti transplanted to Los Angeles. Novelist Aris Janigian will read from and discuss his new novel This Angelic Land, the story of Adam Derderian, a hip, 27-year old bar owner, during his six-day journey through the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Seeming to carry scant memory of Lebanon's civil war, from which Derderian had fled while still a boy, the landscape of the riots now finds him revisiting the world he thought he had escaped. Derderian engages with Armenian gangsters, members of the Nation of Islam, a Hancock Park playboy and a Kurdish scenic artist as he watches his adopted city ransacked and set ablaze. Unflinchingly candid, This Angelic Land is also a timely tour de force. Critic D.J. Waldie of the Los Angeles Review of Books has called it "today's necessary book." Read Levantine Review's take on This Angelic Land. 

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.

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 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.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Aug 24 2012 8:30pm - 10:30pm

Price: 

$15 General Admission, $10 Students/Members
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Levantine Café
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
Between La Cienega and Fairfax
Street parking or in CVS lot (till 10 pm only)

Don't miss the new reboot of the classic Levantine comedy show! More outrageous, more politically incorrect! Celebrating the 7th anniversary of the Sultans of Satire, the comedians perform at the Levantine Café after recent appearances on the Comedy Central Stage, UC Berkeley and UCLA. This edition of Middle East Comic Relief features Ara Basil, Marie Thérèse Abou-Daoud, Omar Elba, Paul Elia, and Mike Batayeh, with special appearances by Samson Koletkar from the Bay Area and Nasry Malak. The hilarious Peter the Persian headlines! Samson Koletkar videos.   Peter the Persian on Persian coolness.    Mike Batayeh on the LA experience.   Nöel Elgrably in the Sultans of Satire.   Omar Elba's latest clip.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jun 24 2012 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Price: 

Free, parking $6 per car (carpooling recommended)

Where: 

Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Blue Picnic Area
4100 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90056
2 minutes south of the Target at Rodeo and La Cienega

Levantine Cultural Center invites you to join our annual friends and family barbeque picnic on Sunday, June 24, 2012 from noon to 6 pm at the beautiful Kenneth Hahn State Park, located just south of La Cienega Blvd. and Rodeo Road. You may bring food for the barbeque and dishes to share if you wish. The LCC will provide drinks, some food, and all the other functional items (plates, napkins, cups etc) including charcoal for the barbeques.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

May 3 2012 6:00pm - May 7 2012 11:00pm

Price: 

General Admission $10, Students & Seniors, $5
Festival Pass $75, Student Festival Pass $50
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Goethe-Institut Cinema
5750 Wilshire Blvd., Ste 100,
Los Angeles 90036
Underground parking free with validation after 6 pm, and free all day Sat & Sun
Closing night gala May 7 at the UCLA James Bridges Theatre in Melnitz Hall

Levantine Cultural Center recommends the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles, now in its 7th year.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Apr 28 2012 3:00pm - 7:00pm

Price: 

Free to the public, art lovers and collectors welcome

Where: 

Sharq Art Gallery
537 Arbramar Avenue
Pacific Palisades CA 90272
310.459.6041

Nahid Massoud and Robert Rosenstone present their new Sharq exhibit, "Three Artists/Many Worlds" with a reception 3 to 7 p.m., Sat., April 28, 2012 and continuing by appointment through May 20. Sharq is an art space in Los Angeles devoted to the work of bicultural artists with roots in Sharq - the East - with the aim of showing the diversity and creativity in this region. Primarily an exhibition space for visual artists, Sharq also hosts events which involve film, music, and spoken word. RSVP/info.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jan 21 2012 10:00am - 2:00pm

Price: 

$40 general public, $20 students; sliding scale available.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W Pico Blvd

Los Angeles CA 90035-2657
Between La Cienega and Fairfax
ample street parking or in the underground CVS lot

Levantine Cultural Center's best-loved creative writing teacher, Elana Golden, leads a special one-of-a-kind  creative writing workshop for Armenians and Turks, and their friends. In an atmosphere of respect for our common humanity, this workshop will offer a safe space and guidance for Armenians and Turks to write their stories and those of their families and ancestors, and listen to each other's work from the heart. Says Elana, "It is my greatest honor and life purpose to help people heal and grow from war and trauma, and to turn atrocities into works of art so we remember them and not repeat them."