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.

Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football is a feature-length documentary film that follows four talented high school football players from the working class Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan as they gear up for their big senior year rivalry game during the last ten days of Ramadan, a month when Muslims traditionally fast every day from sunrise to sundown. The film begins on September 11, 2009 and concludes at the end of Ramadan ten days later. The story takes place at Fordson High School, a public school built by Henry Ford in 1922 that was once all white, but now attracts a 98% Arab-American population. The film plays in Southern California at the AMC 30 at the Block in Orange (OC) and in LA County at AMC Covina. Locations/showtimes.

Sultans of Satire Aug 21 2011UCI's Olive Tree Initiative (OTI) is hosting its annual Bon Voyage Celebration on August 21 to raise money for and bid farewell to its fourth group of student ambassadors who will be leaving for the Middle East on August 29. The afternoon celebration will include a Middle Eastern-themed luncheon, opportunity drawing and presentations by OTI students. Special performances by comedians Amir K. and Mike Batayeh of the Sultans of Satire: Middle East Comic Relief will kick-off the event.

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.

The United Arab Society at UCLA presents its Annual Arab Culture Show featuring a live performance by the Sultans of Satire, with Mike Batayeh and Noel Elgrably. Join the general public and UCLA students for a night of Arab music, poetry, dance, theater and comedy—the largest event of the year put on by members of the United Arab Society who have been rehearsing for months.

Rarely has a story about modern war and civil strife so powerfully traversed generations and continents as the Canadian-Arab feature Incendies.

Montreal-based director Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad's three-and-a-half-hour play, currently in U.S. theaters, clinched an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film earlier this year and took home eight Geni awards in Canada, including Best Actress for Lubna Azabal. Incendies features a little-known Canadian and Arab cast, yet tells a gut-wrenching tale seared into memory.