Jenin, Jenin جنين جنين // post-screening conversation with Mariam Barghouti
Mohammed Bakri | 2003 | total Running time: 54m | book tickets‘Where is God?’ an elderly man desperately wonders when surveying the debris in the Palestinian refugee camp Jenin. The film, directed and co-produced by Palestinian actor and director Mohamed Bakri, includes testimony from Jenin residents after the Israeli army’s Defensive Wall operation, during which the city and camp were the scenes of fierce fighting. The operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians killed. Palestinians as well as numerous human rights groups accused Israel of committing war crimes in the April 2002 attack on the refugee camp. “Jenin Jenin” shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin.
Bitterness and grief are the prevailing feelings among the majority of the population. Many have lost loved ones or are still searching for victims and furniture among the debris. A little girl, who does not seem to be much older than twelve, tells her story but knows no fear. The ongoing violence in her day-to-day life only nourishes her feelings of resistance and determination.
The sad question forces itself on the spectator. What will become of a country, a people when its children are confronted with war and violence from a very early age?
Banned in “Israel”, this film is dedicated to Iyad Samoudi, the producer of the film, who returned home to Yamun after the shooting of the film was completed. On June 23, as Israeli forces besieged Yamun, Samoudi was shot and killed as he was leaving a military-closed area with three friends.
Genre: documentary, biography, archive
Original Language: French, Arabic (English subtitles) Content notes: graphic depictions of violence, such as israeli occupation forces shown killing civilians; personal accounts of survivors; scenes of destructionAge ratings: 15+ Content notes: graphic depictions of violence, such as israeli occupation forces shown killing civilians; personal accounts of survivors; scenes of destructionABOUT THE GUESTMariam Barghouti is a journalist, writer, and researcher based in Ramallah, occupied Palestine. She earned a BA in English Language and Literature from Birzeit University, and an MSc in Sociology and Global Change from the University of Edinburgh. She worked as a journalist and reporter with a focus on the Levant, and published various sociopolitical commentaries from Palestine. She has undertaken monitoring and evaluation missions of humanitarian and development aid in Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon for various governmental and non-governmental organisations. Her reporting and analysis have been featured in Al-Jazeera English, the New York Times, the Guardian, BBC, and Middle East Eye, amongst others. She has been covering the latest and ongoing aggressions on Jenin.
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