Backstage: "How To Win A Cosmic War" Meets "Waltz With Bashir": LIVE Shorts

April 24, 2009

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A new American president, political change in Israel, and turmoil in the Middle East.

Is there a political solution to Israel-Palestine, Iran, Iraq?

Are we in the midst of a “Cosmic War?”

If politics have failed, what is the alternative?

Two creative minds, writer and scholar of religions Reza Aslan and filmmaker Ari Folman, come together to explore this morass.

Reza Aslan’s new book, How To Win A Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, explodes the cosmic legacy of the Bush years that pitted Christianity against Islam and good against evil and he argues for a dramatic re-orientation in how we think about the ongoing struggle with Islamic extremism. Ari Folman brings his own unique experience in writing and directing his recent Academy Award nominated film, Waltz with Bashir, to demonstrate the remarkable power and authority that art, and especially movies, can have in changing the political conversation.

Reza Aslan and Ari Folman will discuss political and religious wars through the lens of the arts and media taking us beyond the tired realities and offer a way forward.