Jenin gets a movie theater

JERUSALEM, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The West Bank city of Jenin celebrated the opening of its newly refurbished movie theater funded by a German filmmaker and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.

The city, once considered a terrorist stronghold during the Second Intifada and dubbed the "suicide bombers capital" by senior Israeli officers, now boasts a movie house and a theater.

On Thursday, a three-day film festival was launched to mark the grand opening.

The decision to refurbish the city's only cinema came after German filmmaker Marcus Vetter made a documentary film called "Heart of Jenin," Palestinian media reports said.

The film focuses on local Palestinian Ismail Khatib who donated the organs of his son Ahmad to Jewish and Arab children. Ahmad was shot by Israeli soldiers five years ago after they mistook a toy gun he brandished for a real one.

While filming in the city, Vetter spotted the dilapidated movie theater and decided to refurbish it.

The new cinema complex boasts a movie theater and gallery, an outdoor cafe and a small children's park and library sponsored by Germany's Goethe Institute, the Maan news agency said.