Buy Your Tickets for The Next Movie in “Gaza Cinema”

Yes!  It’s just as you read in the title, you can buy the tickets and guess what else? … it is for an  affordable price of NIS10  what equals approximately $2.6 only. That’s awesome, isn’t it ??

For decades Gaza people were deprived from enjoying this kind of entertainment. Once there was a cinema in Gaza. It was Al-Nasser cinema. It was first opened in 1944, but it was closed in 1987 after the First Intifada began but re-opened again in 1994 when the Palestinian Authority come back to Gaza. Unfortunately, it was damaged and burned in 1996 in riot actions and this was the end of Gaza Cinema. For 19 years it was just a dream to go to a cinema for the Gazans and the new generation had no idea about how a cinema really looks like and how it feels to watch a movie in the cinema. Can you imagine this?

(Cinema Al-Nasser Before)

(Cinema Al-Nasser Now)

Now this dream became true, Ain Media Company for media production and Fos7a Network launched the program of Gaza Cinema to give the new generation this type of entertainment. The screening of the films takes place in The Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s theater, which can host almost 150 person.

(Gaza Cinema project in The Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s theater)

This was a great step in changing the reality as no one knows when Gaza will restore its freedom and stability from the Zionist occupation. The idea of this program was one of Gaza’s ways to live and adapt with Zionist imposed siege and the disturbing internal political conflicts.

It may seem a silly thing, “Mini-Cinema” of only 150 seats in the overpopulated strip of nearly 1.82 million people, but I can simply imagine it might be an experimental project to study the idea of re-opening the old cinema “Al-Nasser Cinema “.

I can honestly tell that the people behind this project are doing well as they keep asking the people about their opinions and what they would like to watch in the next time. They used to screen mostly Palestinian films or documentaries, which usually deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and it consequences ,which from my point of view became normal and usual for them and I believe that people need to forget about politics and the Israeli occupation even for two hours weekly. Unexpectedly the last time was remarkable as they screened Leonardo Dicaprio’s Oscar winning movie, The Revenant.

With the existence of such a hungry audience for watching films, I believe this project may boost sooner than any one can imagine especially in summer.

This initiative was just one of the proofs that Gaza people really want to live in peace and enjoy their lives, they want and need to overcome the harsh reality of being a Palestinian citizen. They have been suffering more than enough up to now and maybe it is time for them to take the chance to decide how they want their lives to be. This new generation just needed this chance. The whole world watched how Gaza was in war times, now it’s time to see how Gaza can rise with the dreams and hopes of its own people.