Rebuilt cinema revives West Bank town

By Joerg Schurig Sep 30, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Dresden, Germany - The first cinema in over 20 years to have opened its doors in the West Bank town of Jenin, infamous for the tragic events which took place there in 2005, has done much to enliven the town - but a film dedicated to it has been banned because of security concerns.

The largest town on the West Bank was long regarded as a safe haven for terrorists.

But it hit the headlines hardest in 2005, when Israeli soldiers shot dead 11-year-old Ahmed Chatib, because they mistook his water gun for a real weapon.

Ahmed's father Ismail and his wife donated their son's organs, thereby saving the lives of five young Israeli children.

That made Chatib's name a symbol of peace, and in 2008 a documentary called Heart of Jenin was made to tell the story.

German director Marcus Vetter wanted the film to be shown in Jenin, but the town had not had a working cinema since the first Palestinian intifada in 1987.

Ismail Chatib and Marcus Vetter decided to restore the former movie theatre, which had fallen into disrepair - an idea that became reality in 2010. Heart of Jenin has now played there, despite some local opposition to its message of solidarity between Palestinians and Israelis.

Vetter's new film, Cinema Jenin, deals with the rebuilding of the cinema. It features a soundtrack written by Iranian composer Kayhan Kalhor, which will be played for the first time at the TonLagen music festival in the German city of Dresden this Saturday.

Musicians from Iran, Egypt, Israel and the United States will perform together with the Dresden Symphony Orchestra, with scenes from the film shown in the background.

'I visited Jenin for the first time in June 2010, and I was completely overwhelmed' by the enthusiasm over the new cinema, the orchestra's musical director Markus Rindt told dpa.

About 100 German youths, as well as Palestinians, helped to rebuild the movie theatre. It can accommodate 400 people inside, and up to 2,000 for open-air projections.

The open-air part of the cinema includes a man-made beach with a pool, which have become an attraction for children and teenagers in the otherwise bleak town, Rindt says.

The sea can be seen from Jenin, but roadblocks prevent residents from going there.

'There is now the sense of a new beginning, although it is naturally accompanied by the frustrated sense of being trapped,' Rindt said.

Cinema Jenin and an accompanying concert were to have had their premiere at the restored cinema, but the plan was cancelled over security concerns following the murder of Juliano Mer-Chamis, director of Jenin's Freedom Theatre, in April this year.

Vetter also postponed finishing his film in order to include the new tragedy in it.

Rindt and his co-producer Ben Deiss are now hoping to take the film and the concert elsewhere on the West Bank. For the time being, however, Dresden will have to do.