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.

“When I was in Jenin in 2002, I was shocked by the destruction of the city. Now I can see that Cinema Jenin gives the people new hope. I wish that the cinema will provide culture and education not only here in Jenin, but also in other cities throughout Palestine,” said guest of honour Bianca Jagger, who was visibly moved by the opening ceremony. Jaka Bilzilj also expressed his joy over the new cinema. “Cinema for Peace has supported Cinema Jenin with 30.000 Euros and for this, I gladly came to Jenin,” stated Bilzilj during whose film gala in 2009, Marcus Vetter was awarded with the ‘Cinema for Peace Award’.
On the 8th of August, Cinema Jenin will begin with its regular film program and will show a special selection of films for the start of Ramadan. “Finally we have a cinema again. It is wonderful to see the screen shine again,” said a woman from Jenin who came to the opening along with her whole family.

Press conferenz

Opening to the public

Open Air Cinema

More Pictures

Annually the Emmy-Academy pays tribute to „journalistic excellence by awarding the coveted Emmy to the very best news reports and documentary films aired on national television or streamed over the Internet each year“. The awards for the highest reputed television productions are to be handed out on September 27th, 2010. „Heart of Jenin“ will compete in the category „Outstanding Informal Programming Long Form“.

After having won the German Film Award this past April, this new honor is the latest highlight. “The Emmy Nomination literally came from nowhere,” exclaims Marcus Vetter. “For weeks now we have been working day and night in Jenin to make sure that Cinema Jenin will be ready in time for the opening ceremony on August 5th—all of our thoughts revolve around this cinema! This surprising news from New York comes at the best time and has given us more energy and encouragement.” Amongst others, Human Rights activist Bianca Jagger announced her attendence for the big opening. Roger Waters, founding member of Pink Floyd and loyal supporter of Cinema Jenin, wrote a song for the opening celebraton in almst two weeks.

The Background of „Heart of Jenin“ and Cinema Jenin:
Marcus Vetter never forgot the story behind the documentary “Heart of Jenin.” Therefore, two years ago the filmmaker from Southern Germany decided to reconstruct an abandoned cinema in Jenin with the help of Palestinian specialists and international volunteers. This cinema came to be called Cinema Jenin. It was during this process of reconstruction, that the Non-Profit Organization “Cinema Jenin” came into being. Many people who are involved in the Cinema Jenin project have created numerous visionary ideas which revolve around Jenin becoming a center for Palestinian artwork and film. Some creative initiatives include: the distribution of documentaries like “After the Silence” from Cinema Jenin Production, the creation of a sound studio where movies from all over the world will be dubbed and subtitled for viewing in the cinema, and the creation of a film school for talented Palestinian adolescents. Various workshops havealready began taking place in Cinema Jenin.These workshops go beyond just filmmaking, but also put include a focus on other topics, such as empowerment for Palestinian women and ecological awareness projects for the kids in Jenin.

“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.

The people made their way down to the city centre to take a closer look at the cinema and the progress made. Also the children got their fair share: they laughed a lot at two clowns who entertained them the afternoon through, followed by a spontaneous Kids-Karaokee-Show initiated by Fakhri. Long cues emerged with children waiting to get their faces painted by our new Palestinian volunteer Kinana. In the evening, a candy floss seller came leaving no child in need of sweets. The people enjoyed falafel and coffee.
A group of women made hundreds of ’shrak’, a bred of the beduins, which were sold out at the end of the day. People were guided by the cinema crew through the cinema, the future sound and dubbing studio, the editing rooms, the media library, the guesthouse and the cafeteria.

This OPEN DAY really surpassed our expectations: 400 people came to the cinema, amongst them a number of former critics of the project expressing their respect, and admitting that they had never expected it would get this far. Even Dr. Ali Jarbawi, Palestine’s Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation and de facto Foreign Minister joined the event. “The Cinema is a great project,” Jarbawi said, “I’ve seen endless movies here when I was young. Palestine needs more projects like this. We need to change the values of the people. This Cinema is a real catalyst for more to come.” When the night fell over the city, the time for the big highlight was coming, a premiere even for the cinema crew. The entire back wall of the cinema was transformed into an open-air cinema, and people just had to turn their chairs to face the screen. The screening consisted of one short film, “The Runner”, the “Project Cinema Jenin – 20min. Trailer” and Mikes LED advertisement Clip. It was a unique moment to see women after dark still being outside in public, as this usually doesn’t happen due to conservative values and security concerns. The OPEN DAY was a complete success for the crew and replenished the energy of the team for upcoming events.

Anne Bolick

Time goes by in Jenin. While I’m writing that story, my last day in the Cinema Jenin project has begun. 7 weeks I’ve been here, for some people that might be a long time, however, for me it was like a short film. I spent 50 days as a volunteer in this project and what I lived to see was much more than I expected when I had left Germany. Before I started my journey to the north of the west bank, friends of mine had mentioned: Why Jenin? Isn’t that a quite dangerous place? I was not sure, what I shall answer them. I didn’t’ know so much about Jenin with its approximately 50.000 inhabitants, including the neighboring refugee camp. After staying 7 weeks in the city and according to my experiences, I’m able to answer them: Don’t worry: it’s one of the most comfortable places I’ve ever been with lots of friendly and open minded people.

What I appreciate beyond that was the work in the project itself. Retrospectively, I’ve recognized a deep team building process between local and international members of the Cinema Jenin project. The project has become a melting pot for Palestinians and international volunteers, who have -due the common working process- grown up to one team.

For me, my time in Jenin draws to a close. To other volunteers, Palestinians as well as Internationals, who are interested in joining the project, I’d like to say: Come to Jenin and make your own experiences. Or, like Felix, the festival manager of Cinema Jenin, said: “When people spend some time of their life here in Jenin, they shall have fun. If they come with open eyes and open ears they will find an exciting place in the project.”

Cinema Jenin is always searching for interested people with all kinds of personal and educational backgrounds. Currently for example, we are struggling to get our internal communication system established and we are looking for more technically skilled people like IT professionals. However, this is one of many fields of professions. To know, what spheres of action we are searching for, please check our website here: Start Now

Daniel Junglas

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.”

In addition to the film workshop Mike is currently in the process to build up a sales team, which will get in contact with local and international companies. “Our aim is to establish an efficient marketing company inside Cinema Jenin”, he mentioned. The importance of that emerging branch is enormous because it means that not only the advertising space but also its content will be produced and sold by Cinema Jenin. Given the fact that few local companies have professional advertisement material, this business idea will a market niche and produce ads, shoot commercial films and create corporate designs. “In that case, we can make local people famous in an advertisement on the LED-screen”, Mona mentioned.

In the second workshop, Volunteers from Jenin assembled mosaic pieces on the wall beside the cinema and created colored butterflies, which stand for the emblem of Cinema Jenin. Joining that project, the children and the youth got the possibility to be involved in the process of rebuilding the cinema. “It was important for us to find a project in which we connect the young people of Jenin with their cinema”, Annette Burchard, the German workshop leader pointed out. Her Palestinian pendant, Ayman Nassra added: “For me it’s the first time that I did something like that. However, I like spending time with children to create that kind of arts”. The result of that six day workshop is a completely changed, beautiful area beside the cinema.

The project was also supported by Daniel Wahlberg, a Swedish volunteer, who is going to start his studies in arts when he will be back in Sweden. Due to his creative talent, he was able to draw the artwork and so he translated Annettes idea into a working process. Before the first butterflies begun to fly, it hadn’t been clear, what kind of motives shall decorate the wall. “We thought about cultural signs like a mosque”, Annette mentioned, “but we quickly realized, that we shouldn’t use any religious or political symbols”.

Because of its success, the butterfly creation was the first but definitely not the last outdoor mosaic workshop. There are still parts on the wall, which will be decorated with other motives in the next months. Thanks to Anette, Ayman, Mike Randa, Felix and Firas to making these workshops happen.
Daniel Junglas

„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

It´s been a while since I wrote my last blog entry. Meanwhile a lot has happened, we had ups and downs, the usual stuff when you work on such a project. Internal and external problems, a shortage of financial resources, producing a short stop of construction, and so on…

But…we all, the entire team and our friends and supporters, kept believing in the project and the process. In the end this made us even stronger and more focused as a group.

Anyhow, regarding the construction we just moved ahead, and the following has been done:

- the exterior street facade has been cleaned
- the new floor and steps in the foyer are installed and all walls are prepared for painting
- most windows have been renewed or restored, double glass has been used for thermal and sound insulation
- all rooms on the first floor that the Goethe Institute will use are completely finished
- the restoration of the old cinema chairs is halfway done, all seats have been upholstered and put in storage, now the upholstering of the seat-backs has been started
- the concrete steps and the balustrade on the upper floor of the cinema hall have been prepared. They are now waiting to be polished and painted
- our new consultant – Kino Ton – advised us to extend the double wall for a better sound performance, so the substructure for that extension is finished, and the mineral wool for the insulation has been ordered
- we discovered some leakage in the main roof, which we had to fix
- minor works like foundations for the LED screen and the outdoor air-conditioning units are put in place, all emergency doors have been ordered, and the steel structure for the backstage is under construction

In general our aim is to finish all main works by the beginning of May. Then the technical equipment, the electricity network and the fabric to close the double wall will have to be installed. After the completion of the installation of equipment we will only have to paint the walls and install the seats.

SOLAR POWER ROOF
Due to the great support of Matthias Platzeck, the Prime Minister of the Federal State of Brandenburg, the Bosch Group and the B5 company, we will install a solar power system for the cinema roof. Currently we are coordinating the engineering. A structural engineer, based in Ramallah, is evaluating the existing roof structure and preparing a structural report.

CINEMA GARDEN
Together with Mara Lübbert, an architect based in Berlin, we designed a cinema garden. The garden offers an outdoor stage, a large seating area, a cafeteria and a children’s area. We will be able to host concerts, screen movies, etc.
Parts of the construction, like the concrete works around the stage and a retaining wall, have been completed. Landscape works like building terraces with natural stone, garden walls, etc. have been contracted and will start on March the 20th.

By now we have a great team of local construction companies that we feel very comfortable to work with. It was quite a steep learning curve for us foreigners to find the right partners to work with. Of course, on our way, like anywhere else in the world, we had to find alternatives for a few of the workers/companies we worked with. Everybody we have on the site now is so much committed to the project and helps as much as he can. So if nothing unexpected happens, we will have a great carbon neutral cinema with a great cinema garden coming soon.

Here are some new pictures:

Johannes Hucke