Bibliotheken Online

Arna's children

written and dir by Juliano Mer Khamis and Danniel Danniel ; produced by Osnat Trabelsi and Pieter van Huystee

Audiovisuelles Medium

englisch

Danniel, Danniel (Verfasser/-in) DNB
Khamis, Juliano Mer (Regisseur/-in) DNB
Trabelsi, Osnat (Prod.) DNB
Huystee, Pieter van (Prod.) DNB

International Sales First Hand Films

Berlin [u.a.]

2003

56

in engl., arab. un. hebr. Sprache

israel
middle east conflict
suicide attack
documentary

Yussef committed a suicide attack in Hadera, 2001. Ashraf was killed in the battle of Jenin by the Israeli army. Alla leads a fighting troupe. I, Juliano, knew them since they were small children and documented them from 1989 –1996 in the theatre group I directed. In April 2002, I returned to the ruins of the camp with my camera, to see what happened to the children I knew and loved … My film will try to tell and understand their story and choices. The film will be told as a personal diary by Juliano Mer from 1989 until 2003. Juliano is the son of Arna, the Jewish daughter of a Zionist family and a Palestinian Arab who got married in the 50’s. Juliano is today one of the region’s leading actors. Arna established an alternative educational system in the West Bank to replace the formal one that was practically paralysed by the Israeli occupation. Juliano is our prime connection between past and present. The film will move from past to present and will tell the story of a theatre group in the “Stone Theatre” that was established by Juliano’s mother Arna in Jenin. Juliano goes back to the camp eight years after the closing of the theatre to discover the tragic story of the theatre children. The film will open in a long traveling shot of a lengthy traffic jam. The camera discovers a group of demonstrators against the occupation and a tiny woman, with a shaved head and a kafia (Arab shawl), leading the group and calling the drivers to cross the checkpoint and to ignore the soldiers who try to keep the order. Suddenly she calls the drivers of the cars to sound their horns to create pressure on the soldiers. We see the small woman arguing with the soldiers telling them to open the checkpoint and let the cars pass. A title appears “Jenin checkpoint 1991” and Juliano’s voice says: “This is my mother. Today she was released from the hospital where she was receiving cancer treatment. Inspite of doctor’s orders she came here to demonstrate against Israel’s economic siege in the occupied territories. Two months after this demonstration, she died.”

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