Habibi Hussein

Cinema Jenin in Ramallah exists today only in footage and images, but above all in the memory of many Palestinians—as a testament to the “good old times” and to lost dreams of nationhood. Built in 1958, it was once one of the most popular cinemas in the region. Yet decades of siege and occupation ultimately led to its closure in 1987. In 2009, a shimmer of hope resurfaced: plans for its return materialised when local Palestinian authorities, together with German partners providing financial and technical support, embarked on a restoration project. Who, then, would have been better suited to this mission than its former projectionist, Hussein Darbi, with his years of experience and unwavering devotion to the cinema?

In Habibi Hussein, Alex Bakri’s camera takes us behind the scenes of this undertaking, recentering Hussein as the true protagonist of a revival project that relies on his knowledge and labour, yet simultaneously relegates him to the shadows. The film lays bare the colonial residues embedded in a politics of “charity for peace” and the game of representation it sustains, one that eclipses the structural conditions of Palestinian struggle, along with their embodied knowledge and histories. (IA)

In cooperation with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung