The cooperative was established in 2020 by a group of artists, with start-up funding from Palestinian institutions. "Cinema of the Sea" was organised by Al-Bahr Elna Cooperative cafe in partnership with the culture ministry. ![]() "I was with my family when I saw the screen from far away, so I came to watch," she told AFP. "Seeing the children and people watching the open cinema in Gaza made me happy," added Hanafi.Īnother audience member, Hadeel Hajji, said she had "never seen anything like that in my life". ![]() The performance and directing are impressive," she said. "The film is brilliant in addressing a realistic Palestinian story. The hard-hitting film resonated with Mona Hanafi, 50, who watched it with her daughter and dozens of other spectators. The festival's programme featured "Farha", a Jordanian film which, through a young girl's perspective, depicts atrocities committed against Palestinians during the 1948 conflict that led to Israel's creation. "Our house is nearby, I'll ask my mum for us to come every day," she said. Shamaleh was thrilled by the cinematic experience. Like across much of the eastern Mediterranean, Gazans have flocked to the seaside in recent weeks to escape soaring temperatures. There have been some outdoor screenings in recent years, most notably amid the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli air strikes during wars fought with Gaza militants. While not explicitly banned, Hamas authorities fear cinemas may amplify what they view as foreign or Western beliefs that go against Islamic traditions. In 1996, Islamists set a Gaza cinema ablaze. They reopened following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s but for years have largely been gathering dust. The first film screenings in Gaza date to the 1940s, with the opening of the Samer Cinema, whose building now houses a car dealership.Ĭinemas were forced to close in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada. "I have never seen a TV this size," she told AFP as she watched "Ferdinand", an animated blockbuster that tells the story of a giant but soft-hearted black bull. Sitting barefoot in a pink dress at the open-air cinema on Gaza City's beach, seven-year-old Salma Shamaleh was transfixed by the screen. Providing a respite from the heat, the waterfront "is the only outlet for the residents" in the impoverished territory, said Ali Muhanna, a theatre director involved in the initiative.Īround 2.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli-led blockade since the Islamist group Hamas seized power in 2007. ![]() Over two weeks in summer, the "Cinema of the Sea" festival which ended Monday screened some 15 films, many of them with Palestinian actors or producers. Gaza residents took their seats in front of a large projector screen set up on a sandy beach, a rare event in the Islamist-ruled blockaded enclave that has no operating cinemas.
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