Cinema Jenin

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/