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Director: Juliano Mer
Khamis and Danniel Danniel
Duration: 01:24
Type: Documentary
Year: 2003
Summary: Arna’s
Children tells the story of a theatre group that was established by
Arna Mer Khamis. Arna comes from a Zionist family and in the 1950s
married a Palestinian, Saliba Khamis. On the West Bank, she opened
an alternative education system for children whose regular life was
disrupted by the Israeli occupation. The theatre group that she
started engaged children from Jenin, helping them to express their
everyday frustrations, anger, bitterness and fear. Arna's son
Juliano, director of this film, was also one of the directors of
Jenin's theatre. With his camera, he filmed the children during
rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996. Now, he goes back to see what
happened to them. Yussef committed a suicide attack in Hadera in
2001, Ashraf was killed in the battle of Jenin, Alla leads a
resistance group. Juliano, who today is one of the leading actors in
the region, looks back in time in Jenin, trying to understand the
choices made by the children he loved and worked with. Eight years
ago, the theatre was closed and life became static and paralysed.
Shifting back and forth in time, the film reveals the tragedy and
horror of lives trapped by the circumstances of the Israeli
occupation.
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