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Cinema Jenin

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Cinema Jenin
Location:

Jenin, Palestinian Territory

Category:

Culture & Sports

Published: 06 August 2008
Progress:
100% funded
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Rating:
72 Ratings
The forgotten Cinema Jenin (West Bank) will be brought back to life by Ishmael Khateeb, from Jenin refugee camp, and Marcus Vetter, a German filmmaker, with the support of local and international helping hands - as a sign of peace, hope, and normality. More: www.cinemajenin.com

Built in the early 60s, Cinema Jenin was considered to be one of the largest and most impressive cinemas in Palestine. Every day hundreds of people watched movies from all over the world until the cinema was closed with the outbreak of the first Intifada in 1987. Ishmael Khateeb, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp, Marcus Vetter, a renowned German documentary filmmaker, and a group of zealous locals and foreigners want to bring the old cinema back to life. In 2005, Ishmael’s 11 year old son Ahmed was shot by the Israeli army. Despite his grief, he decided to donate his son’s organs to Israeli children saving their lives. In 2006, still deeply affected by his son’s death, he opens a culture centre for the children of the camp as an alternative to their street life. Thanks to foreign donations the centre provides many activities among film courses. A while later the children want to produce their first short film and they realize there is no place to show it: The only cinema in town was closed long ago. Cinema Jenin located in the heart of the city next to the old church, the market and the main roads can serve Jenin (50,000) and Nablus (140,000 inhabitants). Since Jenin suffers from great isolation on all levels - economic, social and cultural - there are very few possibilities of enjoying leisure activities and benefiting from cultural nurturing. The aim is to encourage a culture of cinema-going for the population of Jenin and its refugee camp by showing a mixture of unique, thrilling, entertaining and courageous quality films. see Heart of Jenin - http://www.filmperspektive.de/cms/content/view/74/1/lang,en/

Incomplete (2):

  • Fundraising for Cinema Jenin

    Still needed: 1 • Published 06 August 2008
    Fund raising is a very time consuming task which we will soon not any longer be able to do it ourselves. We are looking for volunteers.
  • Plants for Jenin!

    Still needed: 1 • Published 09 October 2009
    Green Thumb anyone? We sure don’t have one… This is why we need you, to turn Cinema Jenin Project into an Oasis! There is 20qm of ugly Concrete, brin 'em back to life with some nice plants, vegetables and spices for our kitchen

Completed (40):

  • A dozen cinema chairs are to be renovated

    600 Euro. • Published 06 August 2008
    The cinema consists of 500 cast-iron cinema chairs which we will renovate and cover with cushions. For the renovation work per chair we need 50 €. The first dozen chairs are to be renovated.

Expired (1)

English (13):

    An Update from Jenin

    by M. Vetter, posted about 1 month ago

    Dear Supporters from Cinema Jenin,

    The dream to bring the dilapidated old cinema in Jenin back to life has developed a breathtaking dynamic.

    On 2nd of December 2009 Cinema Jenin held its first press conference in Berlin to present the goals of pr

    ...

    …more

German (3)

Supporters (85):

Supporting Teams (5):

    Berlin for Cinema Jenin Munich for Cinema Jenin betterplace junior Cinema Jenin Night

Advocates (20):

Advocates are people who vouch for this project on the basis of personal experiences, specific expertise or direct relations.
  • F. Benke

    F. Benke

    M

    Weil mich selten ein Film so beeindruckt hat wie "Das Herz von Jenin" und Jugendarbeit im Allgemeinen und in der Folge der dort gescholderten Ereignisse eine der besten Arten und Weisen ist wie man Voelkerverstaendigung und Veraenderungen in den Koepfen der Menschen erreichen kann. Auch wenn ich nicht in Jenin selbst war, habe ich immerhin schon einige Eindruecke in der naeheren Umgebung sammeln koennen, die in mir die Ueberzeugung haben wachsen lassen, dass dies ein hervorragender Ansatz ist, die verfahrene Situation im Nahen Osten, zummindest zum Teil zu loesen.

Visitors (8):

Visitors have looked at a project with their own eyes.
  • Joana B.

    Joana B.

    44/F • Berlin, Germany

    For the last 5 days I was in the Palestinian town of Jenin, visiting Cinema Jenin, one of the projects the betterplace Incbator has supported over the last 16 months. After having been deeply involved in the project and accompanying the two project managers Marcus Vetter and Fakhri Hamad on many occasions, I was obviously very curious to finally see the project site with my own eyes.

    The renovation of the cinema, located in the city center in a stately building from the 1960s, has been nearly completed and early next year the cinema-technology will be installed. Over the summer a spacious house next door has been turned into the Cinema Jenin Guest House, housing some 30 people in (single-sex) dormitories and double bedrooms. Its here were I stayed together with a large group of mainly German volunteers, who are helping with the renovation process, run workshops or research their MAs. The lively atmosphere is supplemented with visiting locals and (a few) expats who call Jenin their home.

    While visiting I did a small study about the expectations the local population has regarding the cinema and especially the kinds of films people want to see once it is operating, which I have briefly summarized here: http://blog.betterplace.org/de/2009/10/28/kleine-feldstudie-in-jenin/

    The interviews demonstrated that the cinema project has many supporters in Jenin and people are really excited by it. The visit confirmed my earlier conviction that Cinema Jenin is a courageuos and very necessary cultural project, run by a group of highly motivated people. I am very much looking forward to the opening of the cinema and hope that a number of betterplacers will also find their way to Jenin in the summer of 2010.

Corporate Partners (1):

  • FORCE Innovations GmbH
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  • by G. Presch, asked on 17 June 2009 at 07:05 AM
    Hallo Herr Vetter, ich wohne in Gomaringen und habe kürzlich im Arsenal den Film angeschaut. ich habe dem Tagblatt u.d. Arsenal ein Echo geschrieben. Von Ihnen hatte ich bis dato keien Mail-Adresse. Haben die Ihnen das Echo zukommen lassen? Wenn nicht könnten Sie mir einen elektr. Kommunikationsweg nennen, so dass ich Ihnen die DOC und die PPT schicken könnte. Gert Presch Gert.Presch@web.de
  • by A. Lübben, asked on 29 September 2008 at 09:57 AM
    Hallo! Mein Name ist Anna und ich wollte fragen, ob ihr eigentlich jemanden brauchen könntet, der im Frühjahr für ein paar Wochen kommt und hilft, ich werde nämlich dann in Israel und Palästina sein und würde sehr gerne helfen das Kino ein wenig aufzubauen und zu renovieren...ganz unverbindlich ersteinmal und Danke Anna
    • by M. Vetter, asked on 30 September 2008 at 04:24 PM
      Liebe Anna, sehr gerne. Melde dich einfach, wenn Du mehr weißt. Hier meine Mauiladresse: Marcus.Vetter@t-online.de Liebe Grüße Marcus

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