Jenin/Palestine – “We all have worked together to build something – and finally our dream of the cinema has come true,” says Markus Vetter, director and founder of the cultural project Cinema Jenin. The movie theatre, located in the Westbank, was opened today in presence of prominent guests such as Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad, Bianca Jagger (Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation and Council of Europe goodwill Ambassador) and Jaka Bilzilj (“Cinema for Peace”), as well as more than 80 journalists from all over the world. Around 400 visitors from Jenin had bought tickets in advance to make sure not to miss the opening. Until midnight, they enjoyed the first of three festival days with Arabic music, mask theatre and the documentary “The Heart of Jenin” which was shown as the opening film in the new Open-Air Cinema. Despite his health problems, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad made his way to Jenin for the opening. “Cinema Jenin is immensely important for the building of a Palestinian state,” he said. Only a short while ago, the Palestinian National Authority has donated 50.000 Euros to the project.

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“I’ve seen endless movies here when I was young. Palestine needs more projects like this.
This cinema is a real catalyst for more to come.”
(Dr. Ali Jarbawi, Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation/Palestine)

Berlin/Jenin – After two years of restoration works, the international cultural project Cinema Jenin opens its doors with a three-day festival this summer: the first international and Arabic films will hit the brandnew screen between August 5th and 7th, embedded in the opening festivities with Palestinian guests of honour and lots of music. The opening film will be “Heart of Jenin”. Besides, Cinema Jenin will show the BBC documentary „Deep Blue“, the Egyptian film „Hassan & Marcus“ starring Omar Sharif – a clear statement against violence and extremism. „Trio Joubran” from Nazareth/Paris bring an atmospheric, avant-garde oud concert on the cinema stage. In the „Freedom Theatre“, youths from Jenin’s refugee camp are already intensely working on a play to be performed during the opening. Dr. Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, has already confirmed his attendance for the opening festivities.

A press conference in the cinema is scheduled for August 5th, 1:00 p.m. Visitors and journalists can purchase a festival pass for all three opening days, and sleep at a hotel or with the help of Cinema Jenin find private accomodation in Jenin. Registration and further information will be provided on our website within the next few days.

Cinema Jenin is more than a building of hopes …

…3-D CINEMA, carbon neutral, SUBTITLING STUDIO, synchronization, THE BEGINNING OF A FILM SCHOOL, education & employability, CINEMA LIBRARY, film production, DEVELOPMENT OF EQUALS, guest house, CAFÉ, public space, EMPLOYMENT, short films, PEACE MESSAGE, solar energy, OPEN AIR, stage, WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT….
And it is: YOUR HELP

More information: www.cjfestival.com

This day, a sandstorm from the desert came over to Jenin. Nevertheless, preparations for the first Open-Day went ahead as planned: we cleaned the cinema, sorted out the front stairs that were heavily stained from the construction work, and swept the cinema garden to make it nice and comfortable for the expected visitors.

At five pm, on the dot, all was finished and the doors were opened: in came people of all ages and gender- families, elderly people, groups of children and young women and men. Women, who so far haven’t had any public space to meet in Jenin, besides the mosque, came in great numbers, many of them all made-up for this special event.

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Berlin/Jenin – On Friday night, director Marcus Vetter, founder of Project Cinema Jenin, enthusiastically accepted the LOLA for the best German documentary film 2010.

Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel was among the audience who witnessed „Heart of Jenin“ win the award for the best feature-length documentary in Berlin. After having been awarded a number of international prizes in 2009 (Audience Choice Awards of the International Film Festivals in Dubai and Den Haag, Cinema for Peace-Award), Marcus Vetter was visibly delighted when his film now received the most highly endowed and renowned film award of his home country. „I am extraordinarily happy about this award. One reason, of course, is the further acknowledgement of ‘Heart of Jenin’. The other reason, which is especially important to me, is that this honour contributes to bringing ‘Project Cinema Jenin’ into the public focus”, he said.

The completion of the film was not at all the end of the moving story of „Heart of Jenin“: It was in 2008 that the idea of renovating Jenin’s old cinema and of building a centre for film in the West Bank occurred to Marcus Vetter. Skilled Palestinian workers as well as local and international volunteers have been working on the reopening of “Cinema Jenin” for more than two years. The moment they have been waiting for will finally arrive on August 5th: The cinema will open its doors with a large celebration and a three-day film festival. The opening film, of course, will be „Heart of Jenin“.

To make the dream, that started with “Heart of Jenin”, come true in its entirety, Project Cinema Jenin continues to count on its supporters’ commitment. The outside of the cinema is already finished. Now the renovation of the interior and the installation of the technical equipment remain to be completed. Next to the cinema building there will be (among other things) an open air screen with 1200 seats, a coffee house, a sound and dubbing studio, and an editing room. So there is still much to be done within the next three months, and for all this, the project will need another 70.000 Euros.

People who would like to contribute to the renovation of the cinema, are welcome to support project Cinema Jenin: Here you find more informations how to support us

Three and a half months before the opening festival will take place in Jenin, two workshops offered by Cinema Jenin have been started. Volunteer Mike Gentile is very glad to lead a film and editing workshop with about 30 Palestinian locals: “It’s a new experience to offer a workshop and I really enjoy the time with the participants because all of them are very interested in learning how to create a film.” Both workshops are kindly sponsored by HERZENSSACHE e.V. from SWR Baden Baden.

That enthusiasm was a crucial factor for Mike to defer his intended studies, which would begin next month. According to that, he will stay in Jenin for an undetermined amount of time to build up a professional film team, which will be able to create advertising movies for the new LED-Screen. That huge screen (4×6m) to be placed on the cinema’s roof probably arrives in May. The participants are trained in technical skills like shooting, cutting and editing. “The workshop is a great experience for us, some kind of adventure”, Mona Staiti, a participant, said. One of the main characteristics of the workshop, which she especially points out, is the teamwork. “All of us are involved in discussions and processes so that everybody for example gets the chance to be a director or cameraman. We take all decisions together.”

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(From left to right: Marcus Vetter, the director of ‘Heart of Jenin’ with Matthias Platzeck, Brandenburg’s state prime minister.)

„The cinema is the highlight of my visit here. It is impossible to describe in words how beautiful it is“, says Matthias Platzeck, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Brandenburg, on his visit of „Cinema Jenin“

Jenin- The Prime Minister of the Federal State of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, has visited the project „Cinema Jenin“ in the West Bank today, and was thrilled. „This cinema is more than a regular cinema. It will further peace in this region a good deal“, said Platzeck. He was visibly moved by a 20-minute film trailer, which was shown for the first time to an audience of some 100 Palestinian guests and 20 businessmen from Brandenburg in the same movie theatre that had screened its last film more than 20 years before. The trailer shows the origins of the project „Cinema Jenin“. The film itself will have its worldwide theatrical release in 2011.
Matthias Platzeck took the time for long conversations with Jenin’s governor Qadora Muosa as well as with Marcus Vetter, director and founder of the „Cinema Jenin“ project. „It always takes some crazy people to get something like this off the ground“, he said about the cinema in the West Bank, which will be groundbreaking as a symbol of peace in the region.

Accompanied by businessmen from Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck inaugurated a solar collector (sponsored by the Bosch Group and B5 Solar) for the cinema roof, which will guarantee an ecological and cost-saving energy supply for the cinema’s future. Brandenburg’s main promotional bank ILB has funded the transport of the solar collector with 12.000 Euros. The Prime Minister concluded his visit announcing that he, as well as Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, will sponsor one of the newly restored cinema seats.

Background: „Welcome to Cinema Jenin!“

The work on “Cinema Jenin” began in 2008: The old cinema is planned to become a comprehensive cultural centre in the middle of Jenin. The opening for all Palestinian visitors is scheduled for the first week of August. A large festival with international guests and a selected programme will presumably take place in April 2011. Fakhri Hamad (Jenin), Marcus Vetter (Tübingen, Germany), and Ismail Khatib (Jenin) are the initiators of the project. Fakhri Hamad is also the manager of “Cinema Jenin”.

Marcus Vetter, director and founder of Cinema Jenin, enters the competition for the most prestigious German film award.

Jenin/Berlin – Last Friday, the 1000 members of the Deutsche Filmakademie announced their votes: „Heart of Jenin“ is now among the two best documentary films, so director Marcus Vetter’s chances are quite good to be able to take home one of the desired LOLA trophies from the award ceremony on April 23rd. The ceremony at the Friedrichstadtpalast, Berlin will be hosted by TV celebrity Barbara Schöneberger, and broadcast live from 9.45 p.m. on Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen. Next to Marcus Vetter’s “Heart of Jenin”, other successful German films such as Fatih Akin’s “Soul Kitchen”, or Michael Haneke’s “Das weiße Band”, hope for the equally prestigious and lucrative prize.

Even though Project Cinema Jenin will not benefit from the nomination financially, the large symbolic value provides the project with new impetus: “It is great to receive such acknowledgement for ‘Heart of Jenin’, especially now. We, the team of Cinema Jenin, are currently going through the very difficult final stage concerning funding and completion of the cinema. The nomination for the film award has given a real psychological boost not only to me, but to all the team members”, says Marcus Vetter, director and founder of Cinema Jenin.
This drive is hoped to last until August 2010: Then Cinema Jenin, with a big celebration, will open its doors to the inhabitants of Jenin as well as to all the friends, sponsors and promoters of this international peace project in the West Bank.

Anyone who is interested can adopt one of the beautiful red velvet seats of the cinema. To cover the costs of this cultural project in the West Bank, a symbolic amount of 1000 Euros per chair is needed. Donors are also welcome to fund part of a chair, or to pool the sum as a group.

www.deutscher-filmpreis.de

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The Cinema building is still under construction, but one of our main objectives – media training and intercultural communication – has come to a further step. Right now, about 20 young people from Palestine and Germany hold a short film workshop together here at Cinema Jenin.

Together with Goethe-Institut and Beleza Film, young film makers are realizing their short film ideas under the topic “One day in the West Bank”. Over 50 young Palestinians, between 18 and 30 years old, had applied with their own film ideas. The submitted applications cover a wide spectrum of issues such as experiences at checkpoints, the role of women in Palestinian society, stories about their daily life. The 10 best are now developing, shooting, and cutting their own short film production together with a German partner under the professional and technical supervision of Beleza Film.
Forming a network, improving skills, exploring different cultural backgrounds and expressing them by film are seen as the most promising benefits by the participants.

In Summer 2010 the films are to be premiered at the Cinema in Jenin.

Wendelin Marmon

As last years winner of the “Cinema for Peace Award” for his documentary “Heart of Jenin”, Marcus Vetter together with Fakhri Hamad joined the glamorous “Cinema for Peace Gala” at the Berlinale film festival on February 15th. So we took the opportunity to beat the big drum for “Cinema Jenin” the day after in the Chamäleon Varieté. First being a little worried about how many of the invited guests would come, then happy to see the auditorium almost bursting at the seams. Celebrities from the film business dropped in as well as company representatives and politicians, all curious to hear more about our project. In particular we were pleased about the presence of some representatives of the Israeli embassy.

Fakhri flew in directly from Jenin. Together with Marcus Vetter he explained the idea behind the project and what we reached so far. As our special guest on stage we could welcome Martin Kobler. Previously head of the “Directorate-General for Culture and Communication” in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was one of our main supporters. Thank you so much and good luck for your new job as the deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan!

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Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin-Mitte is a wonderful place steeped in history, dazzling spotlights and, every now and then, a red carpet for the stars. We, the Cinema-Jenin-Team, were not going to pass up on the chance to promote our cinema in the West Bank there. What better opportunity could there be than the renowned Cinema for Peace Gala?

It took place on February 15th, just a day before our big fund-raising event at the Chamäleon theatre. For those not in the know: Cinema for Peace is a special film event which since 2002 has handed out prizes to international filmmakers dealing critically with social, political and sociological issues in their work. In the words of its initiators: “This prestigious event is a symbol of peace, freedom and tolerance, a symbol with a lasting effect on the world of film and media, initiating important projects and the free exchange of ideas.”

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