Category Archives: Events
Spring 2015 Film Screenings
The Center for Arabic Culture Film Screening Program
To go back to our Fall 2014 Film Screenings, click here.
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Spring 2015 Film Screenings
Beverages, snacks and Middle Eastern sweets will be served
The CAC will be celebrating Lebanese Singer Fairuz and the Rahbani Brothers:
Assi and Mansour Rahbani were Lebanese composers who rose to fame throughout the last half of the twentieth century. For nearly three decades they collaborated with legendary singer Fairouz, known as the Jewel of Lebanon. The trio revolutionized the standard for Arab music with the three-minute song (when most were twenty minutes long at the time) and more complex lyrics. Their work ranged from songs about youth and love to musicals that experimented with political satire.
Their musical content generally refrained from taking political stances, often presenting a pan-Arab philosophy. During the Lebanese Civil War their music was actually used in propaganda by both sides. In a country that had only recently gained independence by their first collaboration in 1951, Fairouz and the Rahbani brothers were credited with molding Lebanese identity. Perhaps the most internationally famous Lebanese musicians, Fairouz and the Rahbani brothers produced 19 musicals in 20 years.
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Bayya3 al-Khawatem (Rings for Sale)
Friday January 23, 2015 – 6:30 pm
In a first attempt to make a feature film out of a widely acclaimed musical, “Bayya3 al-Khawatem” was shot in the Lebanese countryside echoing the songs and music that were first heard on stage.
This film is about a small village where the young people are preparing for an annual festival in which many will choose spouses. The mayor of the village, who has a niece named Rima, decides that the villagers are too bored and need to have their imagination stimulated. He invents and tells stories about a fictitious person named Rabi’, describing him as an enemy of the village. Then two idlers in the village start to steal, damage property, and so forth, while putting the blame on Rabi’. Things look even worse when a tall, strong stranger enters the village, says that his name is Rabi’, and asks Rima where he can find the village’s mayor.
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Bint al-Hares (Daughter of the Watchman)
Friday February 27, 2015 – 6:30 pm
Bint al-Hares is a love story that grows between a village girl called Rima and an outsider. Her father, the village watchman, who claims to watch after the comings and goings of all the village affairs, is blind to his daughter’s interest in the stranger. The songs of this film celebrate the Lebanese landscape as they portray the merry aspect of village life.
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Safar Barlek (The Exile)
Friday March 27, 2015 – 6:30 pm
The events of this film take place in Lebanon prior to World War I when most of the Arab countries were under the domination of the Ottoman Empire. These were very difficult days for the local population who had to endure injustice and cruelty, their crops confiscated to feed the army and young men recruited by force into the invaders’ army. If they tried to avoid recruitment and were caught they were sent into exile, hence the title of the film. The fight against oppression is fully illustrated in the film and told in the songs and music.
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Join us for these great events at the CAC – 191 Highland Avenue, Unit 6B, Somerville, MA
Free and open to the public!
CAC Children's Choir to Perform in Event Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr
Come see the CAC Children’s Choir perform!
Monday, January 19
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
East Somerville Community School
(50 Cross St. in East Somerville)
“Music: Our MLK Jr Dream By Song”
Annual Martin Luther King Jr Day Celebration
Volunteers needed to help the day of the event. Please email your interest.
For more information, contact the Office of Somerville at commissions@somervillema.gov
or call 617-625-6600 (x2406)
2014 Annual Appeal
Thank You CAC Friends and Donors
for all that you have done
to support the Center for Arabic Culture
Dear Friends,
Our strength as an organization comes from you, our members, participants, donors and volunteers, who make the Center for Arabic Culture (CAC) vibrant and strong! The CAC is grateful for all you do for us throughout the year. Because of you, we have realized extraordinary growth and achievement since 2006….
This year you helped us 
grow the CAC Sunday School by 20%. We added the extremely popular CAC Children Choir and Arabic Kids Playgroup for younger children, the first of their kind in MA. “Cook with CAC” has been heavily attended, and now we have teamed up with KITCHENiNC in Somerville to make those classes a regular program on the cooking class scene. The center is also becoming a great educational resource for college student interns; in the space of a few months, we have helped train 11 interns and will continue our mentorship and outreach in that arena. And, these are only a few examples of the programs that you enjoy at CAC.
At the CAC, you will receive top-notch services, and you know that you will be treated in a warm and caring manner by dedicated, professional teachers, program facilitators, and staff. We are very proud of the milestones we have achieved, but we also think we can do better, grow even more, and add even more programs.
But, we need your help to do all of this!
Your yearly gift of $100, $250, $500, $1000 or $5,000 can make all the difference for our Arabic Sunday School, for our cultural programming and lectures, for our art exhibits, or any other outreach and programs that we bring to you – and it will also make a big difference to everyone who works to serve you.
You can choose to join our monthly giving program today! You can become a CAC Champion Partner by giving $15, $20, $50, $100 or more every month. The CAC’s monthly giving program allows you to support our mission of bringing the community outstanding services on a recurring basis by way of automatic bank pay or credit card payments. Monthly giving is a convenient, automatic, and easy way to show you care.
Please help us continue our important work so that we can bring you more of what you have come to love and rely on. Without you, our community, we would not be able to continue our work. You give us meaning and a reason to exist! Please consider making as generous a gift as you can.
Your donation will make a world of difference!
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire CAC Team, thank you so much for your help and Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Gheed Amara Itani
Fall 2014 Film Screenings
The Center for Arabic Culture Film Screening Program
To see what we have planned for Spring 2014, please click here.
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Fall 2014 Film Screenings
Beverages, snacks and Middle Eastern sweets will be served
The CAC will be celebrating Egyptian Award-Winning Director Youssef Chahine:
Critically acclaimed Egyptian film director and producer Youssef Chahine was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1926. After university in Alexandria he traveled to Los Angeles, California to study acting. Upon returning to Egypt Chahine entered the film industry as a director, launching his first feature film in 1950 at age 23. His second film, Ibn an-Nil (Son of the Nile) resulted in his first invitation to the Cannes Film Festival in 1951.
Chahine is also credited with discovering and launching the career of actor Omar Sherif.
Chahine once said of his work, “I make my films first for myself. Then for my family. Then for Alexandria. Then for Egypt.” His work touched on controversial topics, from criticism of Egyptian society to homosexuality and what was considered anti-Americanism in a post-9/11 world. Despite being controversial, his films rendered him Arab cinema’s most celebrated director.
“If the Arab world likes them, ahlan wa sahlan (welcome). If the foreign audience likes them, they are doubly welcome.” In fact they did, and Chahine was awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award in 1997.
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Al Mohajer (The Emigrant)
Friday October 3, 2014 – 7:30 pm
Filled with beautiful location shots of Egyptian ruins and lush re-enactments of decadent cult rituals, The Emigrant is a fascinating retelling of the biblical tale of Joseph, told from an Egyptian perspective. Ram (“Joseph”), tired of his family’s backward superstitious life and bullying brothers, wants to travel to Egypt to study agriculture. His brothers travel with him across the Sinai but suddenly sell him to an Egyptian who works for a regional military leader. Ram soon finds himself a pawn in the political and sexual games between Amihar and his wife Simihit, a high priestess of the Cult of Amun.
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Al Maseer (Destiny)
Friday November 14, 2014 – 6:30 pm
The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgments are not liked by everyone especially the caliph’s political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect. It is a story about love, music, religion, power and destiny.
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Al Akhar (The Other)
Friday December 19, 2014 – 7:30 pm
Egyptian director Youssef Chahine exposes the links between power and fanaticism and denounces intolerance in this bitter portrait of the Egyptian business world, where unconditional drive for money rules. Adam (Hani Salama), the son of a rich businessman, and his American wife meet Hanane (Hanane Turk), a journalist of modest means at the airport on his return from studying in the US. She is part of a campaign against a wealthy elite, which has thrived on plundering its own people. Corruption is everywhere in the country and American interests are taking over the lucrative tourist trade. Adam’s rich parents and their friends in the government are at the heart of this corrupt system. 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999.
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Join us for these great events at the CAC – 191 Highland Avenue, Unit 6B, Somerville, MA
Free and open to the public!
~~~~~
In the Spring we will be featuring
legendary Lebanese singer Fairouz and the Rahbani Brothers!
For a full list of Spring 2015 films, please click here.
Ambassador Clovis Maksoud: Book Reading/Signing
(Click on image to view full-size)
Date: Saturday, November 1, 2014
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Sever Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Free and Open to the Public
Ambassador Maksoud will be presented by
Professor William Granara
Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University
For directions, please click here.
A Lebanese national, Dr. Maksoud was the Chief Representative of the League of Arab States in India from 1961-1966. From 1967-1979, he served as the Senior Editor of Al-Ahram, and then Chief Editor of Al-Nahar Weekly. Ambassador Maksoud was appointed as the League of Arab States’ Chief Representative to the United States and the United Nations on September 1, 1979. On August 15, 1990, he submitted his resignation from the League in the aftermath of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. A lawyer, journalist and diplomat, Dr. Maksoud served as the Arab League Ambassador to India and South-East Asia from 1961-1966.
Dr. Maksoud is the author of several articles and books on the Middle East and the global South, among them: “The Meaning of Non-Alignment,” “The Crisis of the Arab Left,” “Reflections on Afro-Asianism” and “The Arab Image.” Ambassador Clovis Maksoud was Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for the Global South at American University in Washington, DC from 1990-2012. Clovis Maksoud was the Chairperson and Convener of many conferences on environment and development, human rights, population, and disarmament.
Born on December 17, 1928, Dr. Maksoud graduated from The American University of Beirut, went on to receive his J.D. from the George Washington University in Washington, DC and did post-graduate studies at Oxford University in Britain.
The CAC is honored to have Professor Maksoud in Massachusetts to speak about his rich and invaluable life experience.
Dr. Maksoud will be presented by Professor William Granara, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.
For more information, contact: Info@cacboston.org, or call 617-893-1176
Movement/Dance Workshops Presented by Monkeyhouse & Fleur D'Orange
Monkeyhouse and the CAC Present
Fleur D’Orange
Two Exciting Workshops:
What’s in a Name? A movement workshop for ages 8-14. Friday, October 17th, 2014, 5:30-7:00 pm. Cost: $25 per person. Special rate for CAC Arabic School Students: $15 per person.
To Register, please click HERE.
Dancing and Discussing Identity An adult dance class. Friday, October 17th, 2014, 7:00-8:30 pm. To Register, please click HERE.
Cost: $25 per person.
For more information, click HERE, or visit the website: http://www.monkeyhouselovesme.com/fleur-dorange-events.html,
ARABIQA by Karim Nagi – Arab Music, Dance & Culture Showcase
Date: Friday, September 27, 2013
Time: 7:30 pm
Tickets: $20 general admission $10 student tickets
Location: Cambridge YMCA Theater, 820 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
To order tickets for this event, please click HERE.
Karim Nagi has recorded 11 CDs and performed on 5 continents. His Arabiqa program has been performed in hundreds of schools across America. Now Karim brings this program to a general audience, open to all ages and families. These showcases illustrate Arab culture in a jovial, dynamic and uplifting way, via the performing arts. Karim Nagi describes and performs on a collection of traditional Arab instruments. Each instrument has an anecdote, as Karim uses humorous and intelligent storytelling to present each instrument and song. This event serves to reveal the humanity and creative excitement of the Arab people.