MPAC to Co-Host Screening of New Film 'David'

A Tale of Two Childhood Friends: One Muslim & One Jewish

November 8, 2011

MPAC's Hollywood Bureau and the Levantine Cultural Center's New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema are pleased to announce a special screening of Joel Fendelman's feature debut "David" on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Ron Brown Auditorium at Horace Mann School in Beverly Hills. The screening will be followed by a cast and crew Q & A with Maz Jobrani and a reception.

"David" is the tale of an 11-year-old boy who is trying to juggle the high expectations of his father, an imam (played by Maz Jobrani) and his feelings of isolation from his Muslim peers. Through an innocent act of good faith, young Daud inadvertently befriends a group of Jewish boys, who mistake him for a fellow classmate at the neighboring orthodox school. A genuine friendship grows between Daud and Yoav, one of the Jewish boys, and his family. Unable to resist the joy of a camaraderie that he has never felt before, Daud is drawn into a complicated dilemma inspired by youthful deceit and the best of intentions.

"Bridging one of the world's defining sociopolitical rifts one 11-year-old at a time, [the] quietly engaging indie 'David' brings charm, sympathy and understatement to its microcosmic story of a young Muslim Brooklynite whose circumstances lead him to pass as Jewish," wrote Dennis Harvey, a film critic for Variety.

Jobrani, an Iranian American actor best known as a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, will participate in the post-film discussion with Fendelman, the film's producer; Deana Nassar, MPAC's Hollywood Liaison; and Jordan Elgrably of the Levantine Cultural Center. New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema is sponsored in part by a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and by April Webster Casting.

The Ron Brown Auditorium is located at 8701 Charleville Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Entrance to the theatre is on Hamel Street between Wilshire Blvd. and Charleville Blvd.