Cinema Jenin
After two years of restoration works, the international cultural project Cinema Jenin opened its doors on August 5th with an impressive opening ceremony.
On behalf of our foundation, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador and CINEMA FOR PEACE Ambassador Bianca Jagger spoke at the event. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad cut the ribbon to officially open the cinema. Bianca Jagger said in her welcome speech: “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”.
CINEMA FOR PEACE founder Jaka Bizilj also expressed our strong belief in the reconciliation power of film and culture: “We hope Cinema Jenin will bring back to this formerly very dangerous place film and culture, and will build a bridge of understanding between Palestinians and Israelis’.
A symbol of this goal was the appearance at the opening of Samah Gadban, the 17-year-old girl from Israel who had received her donor heart from Palestinian boy Ismail Khatib. This emotional story is told in the movie “The Heart of Jenin” by Marcus Vetter; honoured at the Cinema for Peace Gala 2009 – the starting point for Cinema Jenin and the successful cooperation with the foundation.
CINEMA FOR PEACE supported the opening of Cinema Jenin and the Film Art Centre, where young people will learn to create their own movies on issues such as peace, reconciliation and justice. Furthermore, movies will be shown here to school classes and lectures on filmmaking will be held.
The news of the murder of the director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Mer Khamis, on April 4th 2011 came to us as a shock. This terrible incident might entail even further negative implications. So far we unfortunately cannot tell in which direction things will be developing but European co-workers at Cinema Jenin stopped their activities due to the drastically changed security situation. We hope that this disastrous event does not mean the end of the whole effort and we will keep you updated on any further developments.
