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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Early in the morning, Walid, our great guide, picked us up at the guesthouse. It was really cold in February. We have been a small group of braves, ready to share the beauty of the first sun-rays over Jenin’s mountains.

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Here are some pictures of the cinema from my last visit in jenin in January 2010. A report from our architect Johannes is coming soon….

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Cinema Jenin is coming soon… that was our message at the first press conference we had last week on Wednesday. Meeting place was the German Arab Society in Berlin-Moabit – a part of the Capital that isn’t as noble as one someone acquainted with the area would expect this kind of official première to take place in. But: The place was charming, colourful and exactly that what we wanted! A warm atmosphere, perfect lighting for the ongoing film project and very nice hosts like Mr. Bock and Mrs. Darwisch who made everything go so smooth.

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Yesterday, Matt kindly invited for a Jenin evening at his place in the centre of Berlin, a big apartment he is charing wi th 5 other nice people. He prepared a copious, delicious Palestinian buffet, as good as the ones we know from the kitchen table in our guesthouse – except that the humus was home-made, like everything else! Wonderful!

And on top of this, I had the chance to bring a surprise guest: Ismael! I got the phone call in the morning that the had arrived in Berlin – and I did not tell anybody.

We showed the Cinema Jenin trailer and photos from my last stay in Jenin, discussed and made plans with the ones who will come to Cinema Jenin guesthouse soon. Shortly before 11 pm, we watched TV: Ismael’s interview at Gottschalk’s People of the Year 2009.

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Cinema Jenin is a transparent development project which seeks to encourage people to get actively involved. Everyone is welcome to come and visit us in person or online. The project Cinema Jenin still needs your support. Although the renovation of the cinema building will likely be completed by January 2010, we still need to finance the following:

• The renovation of the Cuneo Center for Peace
• Establishing of a studio for subtitling and synchronization
• A sound system for the open air cinema
• Lighting equipment and microphones for theatrical performances
• Digitizing 20 films for the festival
• An LED Screen
• Film Workshops for the youth of Jenin
• Festival organization
• Accomodation for volunteers
• Transportation for Equipment

For donations please check our website here!

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The Cinema Jenin association will be running a poster campaign from January 2010 onwards in order to publicize the project internationally. The idea is to find sponsors who are willing to finance a large poster or a poster space and who will be given the option to publish their logo on the poster in return. Posters are already available for download in various formats from the website. Everyone can distribute the poster – the names and logos of sponsors comprise the tesserae in the Cinema Jenin butterfly logo.

Our poster and postcard you find in our download section here.