Gaza’s open-air cinema offers temporary escape from blockade
Watching a cartoon on a Gaza beach
Hamza Salha reports in The New Arab:
On Gaza’s shoreline, children find relief by watching cinema. Organised by the Cooperative Cafe, the initiative, also called “The Sea Is Ours” emphasises the importance of preserving public space in Gaza by melding art and awareness.
Cooperative Cafe is run in collaboration with the Gaza municipality and offers programmes on storytelling, satire, stand-up comedy, and recycling. The scheme was built without external funding and used 350 tonnes of solid waste from council storage by repurposing car tires, broken tiles and damaged electric poles.
Furthermore, the cooperative offers youth events where in-kind donations are accepted as payment. As part of their payment, they can volunteer for an hour at the cooperative or clean part of the beach.
“People love it here, they keep coming because it is simple and comfortable. They can escape from their daily suffering and cheer themselves up,” Ali Muhanna, a theatre director and founder of the cooperative, told The New Arab. Using simple equipment, Ali and his team set up Gaza’s first open-air cinema. The Gaza Center for Culture and Arts provided them with a sound system, the rest of the materials were created using materials they had recycled.
“The cinema is amazing, I love the feeling of being by the sea, the chilly breeze and starry nights whilst watching a film,” Nour Mannaa, 22, explained with a smile on her face. Nour is unable to watch movies much at home because of the electricity shortage. So she comes on the weekend with her family to the sea where they watch films. “I saw a big cinema when I travelled to Egypt. One day, I hope we get to see a big cinema screen in Gaza like the one there,” Nour told The New Arab.
During the first round of movies, the cooperative screened a total of 15 films that received financial backing from the Ministry of Culture in Gaza as a recognition. Most of these were documentaries, which featured the work of Palestinian directors and actors, while the remaining movies were animated films.