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Saturday, August 20 Summer nights are almost over. Head to Topanga Canyon this evening to take in one more night under the stars. This evening, Topanga Community House welcomes the second annual Topanga Film Festival. The open-air cinema experience will feature various short films, including “Tel Aviv,” about an American Jewish businessman who gets picked up by a van of Arab Palestinians in the Israeli desert. A bar, food and DJ will round out the evening’s al fresco pleasures. 7 p.m. (reception). 8:30 p.m. (screening). $20. Ball field, Community House, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. Â Sunday, August 21 Maybe not all the world, but the Zimmer is definitely a stage today. Take the kids to the Zimmer Children’s Museum’s “Spirit of Imagination Festival” this afternoon. Song and dance will abound, as they learn about theater and using their imagination. Kids wearing costumes get in free. 1-4 p.m. $3 (children), $5 (adults), Free (children in costume). 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles. (323) 761-8998. | ||||||||||||||||
 
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Monday, August 22 The Christian Armenian, Arab and Israeli musicians that make up The Yuval Ron Ensemble drop another CD our way this month. “Tree of Life,” also featuring the vocals of Najwa Gibran, is their newest fusing of sacred and folkloric Middle-Eastern music. The title, they explain, “is a cross-cultural symbol for Life, Humanity, and the Universe, and is sacred to all three major religions of the Middle East.” |
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Tuesday, August 23 Supported by an endowment gift from L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the Ford Theatre Foundation presents “Cellist Lynn Harrell and Friends” in concert this evening. The celebrated cellist performs a program including a Handel-Halvorsen duo, and pieces by Chopin, Sousa and Dukov, Moskovsky, Wieniawski and Tchaikovsky, with pianist Valentina Lisitsa and violinists Helen Nightengale and Bruce Dukov. 8 p.m. $12-$25. Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. (323) 461-3673. | 
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Wednesday, August 24 One of the fine films making its L.A. debut at the International Documentary Association’s DocuWeek is “39 Pounds of Love,” the doc that tells the true story of Ami Ankilewitz, a man born with a rare form of the spinal muscular atrophy, type II, which has limited his physical growth and movement severely. At age 34, and at a weight of only 39 pounds, he has outlived doctor’s predictions by 28 years. His journey to find the doctor who first predicted he wouldn’t live past age 6 is the subject of the film. 10 a.m. (Wed.). The film screens at various times from Aug. 19-24. ArcLight Cinemas, 6360 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 464-1478. |  
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Thursday, August 25 The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine offers a “best of” exhibition of Weisman’s extensive collection in their latest show, “The Eclectic Eye: Selections From the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.” Included are icons of the pop art movement, including an entire set of Andy Warhol’s 10 Marilyn Monroe silk screens, works by James Rosenquist and Christo, and a special “show within the show” of a separate gallery devoted to works by Ed Ruscha. Free. Runs through Oct. 2. Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. (310) 506-4851. |
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Friday, August 26 We here at Seven Days can’t resist good wordplay. And so we must devote today’s space to Beth Shir Shalom’s cleverly named open house, barbecue and Shabbos tish, which is called … wait for it … “Tish Kabob!” 6 p.m. 1827 California Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 453-3361. |
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7 Days in The Arts
Summer nights are almost over. Head to Topanga Canyon this evening to take in one more night under the stars.
 
