The German Foreign Ministry supports ‘Cinema Jenin’ within the framework of its ‘Future for Palestine’ programme. The Ministry has made possible part of the renovation of the cinema with more than 240,000 Euro including the acquisition of two D-Cinema projectors. ‘Goethe Institute Ram’Allah’ is planning to open a movie library and gallery on the first floor of the cinema and is also using one of the rooms of the guesthouse for German lessons. AirBerlin has been extremely generous in sponsoring monthly flights (and excess luggage) to Tel Aviv and back and, in this way, support the work of our volunteers and staff. The ‘Cinema Jenin’ association would also like to thank our partners and sponsors, like Ferrostaal, Gerriets, Xpand, Bewegte Bilder, the ‘Cinema for Peace’ Foundation, Hasso Plattner Ventures and all the many others whose logos are shown on our webpage and without whose generous support we would not be able to do what we are doing!

Cinema Jenin has also found a new reliable partner in the city of Tubingen: The formal ties between the project and the city will ensure that there will be a consistent cultural exchange and increasing connections with Europe after the opening of the cinema. What had started with the cinema in Jenin will also be growing in Tubingen.

The Lord Mayor of Tubingen, Boris Palmer, has made the generous offer of allowing us to use the infrastructure of Tubingen’s Cultural Office in order to warrant the sustainability and continuation of the project. Daniela Rathe, the director of the Cultural Office, wants to use third-party funds to create a regular Cinema Jenin office position at the Cultural Office in order to establish a reliable project partnership for contacts in Germany. Such an arrangement will benefit both sides: The film scene that is emerging in Jenin will be given a platform in Tubingen from which it will be able to encounter important contacts and to present its productions to a wider European audience. From there, the project will hopefully begin to expand to other German cities. The exchange will also be linked to a particularly symbolic location in Tubingen – right at the heart of Tubingen’s old city is an empty cinema, which belongs to the city. This cinema will be the site of a film project week in the spring of 2011, during which the first productions from Jenin will be introduced to a European audience and new co-operations can emerge with German filmmakers.