The Grand Opening in August 2010

On the 5th August 2010, after two years construction works, Cinema Jenin re-opened its doors for everyo-ne with a three-days festival. It was attended by numerous special guests from politics and arts, including performances from „Le Trio Joubran“ from Paris/Nazareth and Salam Abu Amneh & Band. Over 90 inter-national journalists were accredited to see when the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad cut the red ribbon. First topic at the opening celebration was the screeningof „Heart of Jenin“. The program went on with fascinating Arab and international films and extraordinary concerts and a wide-ranging children’s program, rounding up the festival.

The Grand Opening had impressive media coverage all over the world. Amongst those were: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Berliner ZeitungTagesspiegel, Berliner Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Stuttgarter Zeitung, TAZ, Die Welt-Online, ZEIT Online, The Jewish Chronicle, The Guardian (UK), The Washington Post (USA), Daily Star (Lebanon), The Age (Australia), El País, The Guardian, Le Monde, BBC, CNN, AFP, dpa AP, Reuters, France24, Al-Jazeera English, CNN.com (USA), Need-to-Know on PBS (USA), heute, tagesschau

Hard Facts about Cinema Jenin

Property: 2 000 m²
Cinema: 335 seats / 340 m²
Screen: 5.80 x 10.30 m
Stage: 12 x 5,5 m
Open-Air Cinema & Cafeteria: 700 seats
Open-Air Stage: 4 x 8 m
Open-Air-Screen: 5 x 12 m
Guesthouse: 44 beds/ 8 bathrooms & showers/ wireless internet access/one big kitchen & dining room
LED screen: 3,08 x 3,84 m
Solar System: 208 m²/6143kw-h/year
Mediathek: 70 m²/ over 500 books & films
Teaching room for German language: 20 m²

Our goal

The overall goal of Cinema Jenin is to break the situation of isolation and lack of perspective in Jenin through creating sustainable change and improved living conditions. The project will use the means of cinema to do so. After the reconstruction of the old movie theater is complete, Jenin will once more have a cultural heart. Since it is the goal to let all people in Jenin benefit from the project, the official ticket price will be 5 Shekel (1 Euro).

Sustainable strategy

Economic sustainability will be reached through income generating activities in several fields. After the opening, there will be revenues from commercials shown in the film screenings and on a huge LED screen (3×4 m) on the cinema’s roof. Not only this advertising space but also its content will be produced and sold by Cinema Jenin. The necessary technical equipment is already being shipped to Jenin and staff trainings by volunteering German experts are being held in order to produce quality results. Other income sources include the Cinema Jenin Guest House which is already operational and an outdoor cafeteria.

The intertwined aspects of personnel and social sustainability are even more important to unfold the project’s full potential. Though having the advantage of rebuilding an old structure rather than implementing something totally alien, Cinema Jenin still needs to be accepted and in the end run by the people of Jenin. In order to make sure that the project is shaped by the needs of the local population Cinema Jenin is consequentially conceived and carried out as a German-Palestinian joint venture. But for the cinema to be truly sustainable on a social level, it needs to reach out to the entire population. This is why the educational activities such as special screenings for schools, film workshops and technical trainings will increase the number of people benefitting from the project.

The goal to break Jenin’s isolation comprises a multitude of objectives 
in three core areas:

1.Promoting Culture and Social Integration:



• Re-establishing a culture of cinema-going
• Integrating Jenin city and the refugee camp
• Promoting culture in all its forms and providing a venue for artists
• Raising awareness for women’s and children’s rights

2. Fostering Peace and Intercultural Dialogue:

• Opening a window to the outside world in times of occupation and siege
• Providing the means for cultural self expression towards the world
• Reintegrating Jenin into a regional and international cultural exchange
• Fostering principles of dialogue, peaceful conflict resolution, co-existence and acceptance of others

3. Strengthening Education and Economy:



• Providing technical education and educational screenings for school classes
• Creating sustainable jobs for the people of Jenin
• Increasing the attractiveness of Jenin as a place to visit and do business
• Setting the seed for a local film industry

Built in the early 60‘s, Cinema Jenin (West Bank, Palestine) was considered to be one of the largest and most impressive cinemas in Palestine. Hundreds of people attended it daily to watch films from the Arab world. Later, it started presenting action films and American B movies until it was closed as a movie theatre with the outbreak of the first Intifada in 1987. Now, Fakhri Hammad, a resident of Jenin, Marcus Vetter, a renowned German documentary filmmaker and a group of enthusiastic locals and foreigners were bringing the old cinema back to life! The story behind this ambitious plan began, when in 2005 Ismail Khateeb, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp, decided to donate the organs of his 11 year old son Ahmed, who was shot dead by the Israeli army. Despite his grief, Ismail decided that Israeli children should receive these organs, thus saving their lives. A year later, still deeply affected by his son’s death, he opened a culture centre for the children of the camp as an alternative for their street life. Thanks to foreign donations the centre started providing many activities among which film courses were given. The story of Ishmael’s gesture of greatness and peace captured the world’s media attention and is told in Marcus Vetter’s ward winning documentary “The Heart of Jenin”. But while the movie was celebrated internationally, Jenin was lacking a place where its very own story could be told. Parallel, the children from Ismails culture centre want to produce their first short film, only to realize that they had no place to show it in. The idea to rebuild the cinema was born! This resurrection of Cinema Jenin has enormous dramatic potential. Its story is being told in the form of the documentary film CINEMA JENIN – The STORY of a DREAM

Cinema Jenin is located in city centre of Jenin, next to the old church, the market and the main transportation routes. The Jenin governorate has roughly 230,000 inhabitants. Having been the site of fierce fighting in the Second Intifada, the city suffers from isolation on all levels – economic, social and cultural – ever since. Once a centre of commerce its unemployment has risen to nearly 80%. Options for leisure time and cultural activities are severely limited. And while the nearest cinema in Nablus city is only 40 km away, movement restrictions due to the occupation render it a place practically out of reach for many of Jenin’s inhabitants, leading to a situation where most citizens under the age of 20 have never seen a movie on a cinema screen. Thus, the only window to the world is television and, for those who have access to a computer, the internet. In this environment the cinema reborn will serve as a beacon of hope fostering the social and cultural reintegration and economic rehabilitation of Jenin.