What: Sundance Institute, Levantine Cultural Center, and New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema present a special preview screening of the Sundance Institute-supported film and 2010 Sundance Film Festival hit, THE TAQWACORES (Strand Releasing) on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at The Harmony Gold Theatre in Los Angeles. This new feature film from director Eyad Zahra explores the complexities of being young and Muslim in today’s America, with a unique focus on the Muslim punk rock scene. The Taqwacores will open to the public in Los Angeles beginning Friday, November 12th at the Laemmle Sunset 5.
Who: Following the screening, a Q&A featuring co-stars Bobby Naderi, Dominic Rains, Nav Mann, Tony Yalda, Ian Tran, and Noreen Dewulf, with director Eyad Zahra.
Where: The Harmony Gold Theatre; 7655 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046
When: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 7pm
Tickets: $15 general, $10 students/Levantine Cultural Center members. Call 310.657.5511 for tickets
About the Film: Yusef (Bobby Naderi), a first-generation Pakistani engineering student, moves off-campus with a group of Muslim punks in Buffalo, New York. His new “unorthodox” housemates soon introduce him to Taqwacore-a hardcore, Muslim punk rock scene that only exists on the West Coast.
THE TAQWACORES and filmmaker Eyad Zahra received long-term support from the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, through the Rawi Screenwriters Lab in Jordan and with creative and granting support through post-production. The film was also an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
About Sundance Institute: Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, An Inconvenient Truth and Angels in America. www.sundance.org.
Media contacts: Morgan Turner, Levantine Cultural Center, 310-657-5511. For further information, interview requests or to request a screening copy for coverage consideration, please contact James Lewis at jlewispr@gmail.com or at 323-828-2424.
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