For the Children

Related Content

• Letters
  July 24, 2003
• Personae of Persecution
  July 3, 2003

More About

• Arna Mer Khamis
• Jenin
• Hadera
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Books and Literature

Here's a much more effective telling of the Palestinian-Jewish situation than you'll get with any "fair and balanced" news coverage. The documentary Arna's Children tells the story of a West Bank theater group established by Arna Mer Khamis. Khamis, a Zionist, used the school to help the children of Jenin deal with the anger and bitterness caused by the Israeli occupation. Khamis's son Juliano, who filmed the children during rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996, recently went back to find out what happened to them. It's not pretty. One, Yussef, committed a suicide attack in Hadera in 2001. Another, Ashraf, was killed in the battle of Jenin. As for Juliano, he's now a respected actor in the region, attempting to make sense of the fates of his classmates, and the fate of the school his mother created.
Thu., March 23, 8 p.m.