Youth caught between two worlds

     (PNAN-CA) – Director Eyad Zahra explores the complexities of being young and Muslim in today’s America. Chosen as an official selection by the 2010 SXSW Film & Music Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, “The Taqwacores” makes it way in a special preview screening at the Harmony Gold Theatre, located at 7655 West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, November 10 at 7:00 pm.  The official public film opening is on Friday, November 12 at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in Los Angeles and the University Town Center in Irvine.

     The film is about a first-generation Pakistani engineering student, Yusef aka Bobby Naderi, who moves off-campus with a group of Muslim punks in Buffalo, New York. Yusef’s new offbeat housemates soon introduce him to Taqwacore, the Muslim hardcore punk rock scene that only exists on the West Coast.

     As the seasons change, Taqwacore influences the house more and more. The living room becomes a mosque during the day, while it continues to host punk parties at night. Ultimately, Taqwacore influences Yusef, when he begins to challenge his own faith and ideologies.

     A Q&A at the Harmony follows with Director Eyad Zahra and some of the characters: Bobby Naderi (Yusef, Pakistani-American engineering student); Dominic Rains (Jehangir, 1977-style drunk punk Sufi hero); Nav Mann (Umar, a hardcore straightedge Sunni); Noreen Dewulf  (Rabeya, burga clad, riot girl feminist); Ian Tran (Fasiq, Indonesian skater-punk stoner); Tony Yalda (Muzzamil); Volkan Eryaman (Amazing Ayyub, a shirtless Shi’a skinhead); Rasika Mathur (Fatima); Anne Leighton (Lynn); John Charles Meyer (Bilal’s Boulder Lead Singer); and Denise George (Dee Dee Ali).

     For tickets on Wednesday preview, call the Levantine Cultural Center at 310.657.5511, and for other information about the film, see www.rumanni.com