2012 marks the 64th anniversary of the Nakba.That year saw the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages, massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages. In commemoration of these capital events in Palestine history, Cinema Jenin and The Freedom Theatre have set a program of events under the motto „ A Day to Remind“ that would take place at the Cinema and in the city of Jenin.

In Cooperation with the French Institute in Ramallah, Cinema Jenin presents the „Very Short“ International Film Festival on the 10th of may at 5 PM.

Within the frame of the European cultural week, the French Institutes network in the Palestinian territories and “EUNIC oPt” present the “Very Short “International Film Festival: an event without borders, with screenings held simultaneously in about eighty cities in France and in fifteen countries all around the world, including Palestine.

The flagship of the festival is the international competition: around fifty movies shorter than 3minutes long subtitled in Arabic, representing the best, and especially the shortest of the global

To be shown in Cinema Jenin on April 23rd at 5 PM.

This film was made during a workshop organized by the Goethe Institut to encourage young palestinians to show their country through the lenses of their cameras.

Ismael Jabarine gives English courses for pupils and students in Jenin.

These courses are being given in the Mediathek of Cinema Jenin and in the German language classroom of Goethe Institut in the Guest House of the Cinema.

The travel guide is available her: www.tondok-verlag.de/reisefuehrer/palaestina.html

We are happy to announce the GRAND PREMIER of the feature documentary CINEMA JENIN – The Story of a Dream on April 5, 2012 in Jenin, Palestine. It is as well the official date of the theatrical release in Palestine. The film is dedicated to Juliano Mer-Khamis.

It was a daring idea, reopening a cinema in a place caught in a spiral of violence, hopelessness and injustice. Yet it was the unprecedented gestures of the Palestinian father Ismael Khateeb that encouraged many people to support this brave undertaking and to help make this dream become reality. It took three years, from inception to the present day. These three years have been documented in a film. It is a film depicting moments of euphoria beyond words but also those of deep disappointment.
On August 5, 2010 Cinema Jenin celebrated its reopening with hundreds of local and foreign guests and broad international media coverage. However nine months later, on April 4, 2011 Juliano Mer-Khamis, the director of the Freedom Theater in Jenin, was murdered in broad daylight by unknown assassins. The death of Juliano was an indescribable shock loosing a friend who committed himself for the kids in Jenin.

We would like to thank sincerely for the continued support of the project CINEMA JENIN, also in this difficult period. With this support we were able to continue our work in Jenin and to build a team around our Project Manager Dr. Lamei Assir, whose wages are secured for one year thanks to the Foreign Office of Germany.
Cinema Jenin and its accompanying projects are still in their early stages. In order to establish Cinema Jenin as an economically viable and self-supporting project, we still need financial, conceptual, and personal support to continue our work. The tasks include further training of the Palestinian team in managing the cinema and the cultural events, ensuring a diverse film program and proceeding with film and theatre workshops, developing educational activities as well as professional training opportunities, and much more. We have designed a business plan that contains a minimal first budget of 50.000 EUR. The guest house, cafeteria, the LED-Screen and our solar power system ought to serve as additional source of income. In our “Adopt a chair” – program there are still chairs available.

If only 100 of the 200 remaining chairs will be adopted the financial situation of Cinema Jenin will be secured until end of 2013. Please download our Financial Report from our website in order to get an overview of what we have reached in the last three years. If you are interested in attending the Jenin Premiere of CINEMA JENIN – The Story of a Dream please write to press@cinemajenin.org

Marcus Vetter & Dr. Lamei Assir
(Cinema Jenin e.V / Cinema Jenin Palestine)

Here you can find the fact about Cinema Jenin – The Story of a Dream

Cinema Jenin follows an ambitious initiative to re-open a previously abandoned cinema in the West Bank city of Jenin. Founded in the 1960s, it was once the largest cinema in Palestine, today it stands as a hollow echo of its society. Re-building the cinema, Germans and Palestinians come together evoking often comedic but always political and cultural ramifacations. Cinema Jenin witnessed an intimate, nuanced and textured view into the city and its domestic affairs as well as the journey of a dedicated, loyal, often conflicted group of people who hope that the re-building of the cinema will be a bridge to peace, freedom and Palestinian self-empowerment.

BRD/Palestine /Israel 2011
Release: October 2011
Format: HD/35mm
Shootingformat: HD
Soundformat: Dolby Digital
PictureRatio: 1:1.85

A Production of:
BOOMTOWN MEDIA (Berlin)
FILMPERSPEKTIVE (Tübingen)
and CINEPHIL (Tel Aviv)

in coproduction with:
SÜDWESTRUNDFUNK
BAYERISCHER RUNDFUNK
ARTE
YES TV (Israel)
SENATOR FILM
and PROJECT CINEMA JENIN (Palestine)
in association with: VPRO

funded by:
MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG
DFFF DEUTSCHER FILMFÖRDERFONS
MFG BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG
RABINOVICH ASSOCIATION
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE

Year of Production2011

Written and Directed by: Marcus Vetter
Director of Photography: Alex Bakri
Montage: Saskia Metten
Sound: Aljoscha Haupt
Line Producer: Marc Wächter
Producers: Uwe Dierks, Thomas Grube, Philippa Kowarski, Marcus Vetter
Sound Design: Alex Claude
Music: Avi Baleli & Sven Kaiser
Commissioning Editors:
Martina Zöllner, SWR
Gudrun Hanke El Ghomri, SWR
Thomas Sessner, BR
Ulle Schröder, ARTE
Barbara Denz, NDR

Worldsales: Cinephil, Tel Aviv
German Distributor: Senator Film Verleih
Arabic Distributor: Bukera Pictures

Festivals:
International Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2011
Dubai International Filmfestival 2011

Coming Festivals/Releases Festival Du Film Geneve – 02 to 11 of March 2012 Movies that Matter – 25th to 30th of March 2012
Cimema Release in Jenin, Palestine – 05 of April 2012
Planet Doc Filmfestival – 11 to 20 of Mai 2012
Bergen International Filmfestival – 17th to 24th of October 2012

Awards Der Friedenspreis des Deutschen Films –
Bernhard Wicki Filmpreis – Die Brücke

Dear friends of Cinema Jenin!

we proudly announce the Worldpremier of the film CINEMA JENIN – The Story of a Dream on November 22 in the section “International Competition” of the 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (idfa).

The dream of reopening the old cinema in Jenin/Palestine began with the critically acclaimed film “Heart of Jenin” (2010 German Film Award). The documentary film tells the story of Ismael Khateeb, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp, whose 11-year-old son Ahmed was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in 2005. Ismael and his wife decided to donate their son’s organs to Israeli children- a gesture of peace and reconciliation. The film helped to spread the message across the world. Jenin itself, however, still lacked a proper place to show its very own story. Therefore, Ismael Khatib, his translator Fakhri Hamad and filmmaker Marcus Vetter decided to bring the old cinema in the heart of the city back to life. Cinema Jenin is meant to be a place for the people, with much to offer: culture, fun, education, job opportunities, and a bridge to the wide world behind the wall.

The film CINEMA JENIN tells this story from the very first moment. It becomes a drawn-out process, as the German director at the center of his own story encounters complex cultural relationships and sentiments. Initially, he doesn’t understand many Palestinian customs and he gets taken to task for it on several occasions. What’s more, the involvement of foreign parties is a delicate issue for many Palestinians – especially when it comes to Israel. Although the new cinema is supposed to welcome everyone, the enterprise prompts reactions that reveal the painful nature of the relationship between Palestine and Israel. The word “peace” becomes extremely charged, and the initiators Ismael, Fakhri and Marcus have to take care that the social project doesn’t turn into a political one. These and other problems need to be solved with the help of a few big names, lots of volunteers, and even more cigarettes. (IDFA)

CINEMA JENIN is produced by BOOMTOWN MEDIA, FILMPERSPEKTIVE and CINEPHIL in co-production with SWR | BR | NDR | arte, SENATOR FILM PRODUKTION and YES TV.
Funded by MFG BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG, MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG, DFFF DEUTSCHER FILMFÖRDERFONS, BKM, RABINOVICH FOUNDATION and SUNDANCE INSTITUTE.

We would like to thank all the generous supporters, sponsors and volunteers. Without their support Cinema Jenin would not have been possible!

Cinema Jenin and its accompanying projects are still in their early stages. In order to establish Cinema Jenin as an economically viable and self-supporting project, Cinema Jenin still need financial, conceptual, and personal support to continue our work. The tasks include further training of the Palestinian team in managing the cinema and organizing cultural events, ensuring a diverse film program, proceeding with film and theatre workshops, developing educational activities as well as professional training opportunities, and much more.

Sincerely
Your Cinema Jenin Team

Screenings in Amsterdam

20/11 – 12:00 Industry screening
22/11 – 17:15 World Premier in Tuschinski 1
24/11 – 11:30 Extended Q&A

More information: www.idfa.nl

Filmcredits:
Director Marcus Vetter
Photography Alex Bakri
Editing Saskia Metten
Music Avi Balleli
Production Philippa Kowarsky for Cinephil
Thomas Grube for Boomtownmedia
Uwe Dierks for Boomtownmedia

Involved TV Channel
Yes Docu
BR
ARTE
SWR

This year the Dresden Sinfoniker are building a bridge to the city of Jenin in the West Bank: in August 2010 the city’s cinema, which had been closed since the first Intifada in 1987, re-opened its doors. It is one of only three cinemas in a region marred by decades of political conflict. The city became world-famous through the fate of Ismael Khatibs, who donated the organs of his eleven-year old son Ahmed, killed by Israeli soldiers, to Israeli children. This great gesture of reconciliation created the foundation for the rebuilding of Jenin’s cinema only three years later.

The internationally acclaimed Iranian composer and kamancheh-virtuoso Kayan Kalhor composed the piece Cinema Jenin – A Symphony especially for the project, which he will premiere together with the Dresdner Sinfoniker and four other soloists from Iran, Egypt, Israel and the USA on the 1st October 2011 at the Festspielhaus Hellerau. The music will be accompanied by scenes from Marcus Vetter’s documentary Cinema Jenin, currently in the making, which tells the incredible story of the rebuilding. The program will be complemented by Kayan Kalhors Silent City, a piece for kamancheh, percussion and strings. The evening is also the opening of the TonLagen Festival and will begin at 6 pm with the award-winning documentary Das Herz von Jenin by Marcus Vetter. The concert starts at 8 pm. The Dresdner Sinfoniker will accompany Marcus Vetter’s documentary Cinema Jenin on a tour through Isra-el and the West Bank in the spring of 2012.

Cinema Jenin – A Symphony is under the patronage of Frank-Walter Steinmeier and is a co-production of the Dresden Sinfoniker and Ben Deiß.

SOLOIST
SKayhan Kalhor, KamanchehKamil Shajrawi, OudAli Bahrami, SanturSa‘ad Mohamed Hassan, Arabische ViolineShane Shanahan, Percussion

CONDUCTOR
Andrea Molino

For further information please contact:
PR + Medien
Petra Huber
petra@pr-huber.de
+49-172-2405084
www.cinemajeninsymphony.com
www.dresdner-sinfoniker.de

SENATOR FILM VERLEIH
Senator Distribution will release „Cinema Jenin“ in Fall 2011. Further information: www.cinemajenin.org