Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jul 15 2009 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Price: 

$10 available in advance or at the door
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Ave at 14th Street
Santa Monica CA 90403
Metered/free street parking is available on Montana and the cross streets surrounding the Aero.
Please check posted signs. After 7 pm you can park for free north of Montana for the duration of the movie.

America So BeautifulIRAN/AMERICA Then and Now (1979-2009): A Public Conversation and Special Screening of the feature "America So Beautiful" (visit americasobeautiful.com), with a panel discussion featuring writer/director Babak Shokrian, costar Fariborz David Diaan and international vocal star Sussan Deyhim, moderated by author Mark LeVine.

Presented by CODEPINK Women for Peace (codepinkalert.org), Levantine Cultural Center (levantinecenter.org) and Sociarts (sociarts.com).

Movie tickets $10, available in advance or at the door, call 310.657.5511 or 310.657.5522.

*** The first 25 people to book their tickets for "America So Beautiful" will receive a free pair of tickets for a special preview screening of the new feature film "Amreeka" (see amreeka.com), screening August 20, 2009 at the Writers Guild of America. ***

Thirty years ago Iran had just undergone the overthrow of the Shah and a student revolution that led to the Iran-America hostage crisis of 1979-1980. Anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States ran high in those days, but today, in 2009, many Americans are sympathetic with the recent protesters marching in the street in cities across Iran. Historian Mark LeVine, author of Why They Don't Hate Us, Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil and Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, will moderate a spirited public conversation with Iranians in Los Angeles including actor/producer Fariborz, director Babak Shokrian and international vocalist Sussan Deyhim.

an image from the film"America So Beautiful" (91 ms) follows the odyssey of a group of Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles, trying to find their place in America amidst the unfolding of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film stars many well-known Iranian American actors in the community, among them Shohreh Aghdashloo, Hooshang Touzie, and Fariborz David Diaan.

Houshang believes his ticket out of his uncle's Persian market is to become a partner of a glittery disco — if he can just come up with the money. As Houshang struggles to pull his family into the deal, he decides to show them a piece of the dream by taking them out for an evening at the disco. They instead encounter a night of surprise and transformation, filled with hilarity, pain and revelation. Houshang's desperate night of assimilation becomes a moving search for identity , culture and an affecting dissection of the American dream.