ARNA’S CHILDREN

"…an unforgettable experience" Uri Avnery, March 2004

"…compelling…a must-see documentary" Variety, May 2004

"…a work of art, made with a trembling hand", Haaretz, April 2004

ARNA'S CHILDREN tells the uplifting but tragic story of a Jenin-based children’s theatre group, established after the first Palestinian Intifada of 1987. The group is just one of the cultural projects set up by Arna Mer-Khamis, a life-long campaigner for peace, justice and human rights, born in 1929 to Jewish parents and married to a Palestinian Communist. In this unmissable film, director Juliano Mer Khamis - Arna's son and one of the directors of the theatre group - documents the children during rehearsals from 1989 to 1996. Later, he returns to record their fate after the outbreak of the second Intifada. What does he find? One has committed a suicide attack in Hadera in 2001, one has been killed in the battle of Jenin, and one now leads a resistance group. Shifting between the past and the present with subtlety and understatement, the film tries to understand the choices made by young lives suffocated by occupation.

Winner of: Best Documentary at (U.S) Hot Docs Film Festival 2004; Best Film, at Czech Republic One World Film Festival 2004; Best Documentary at (U.S.) Tribeca Film Festival 2004.

Sunday October 17, 3pm Cross St Chapel,Cross St, Central Manchester
Admission £3 waged, £2 unwaged