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GUEST: Juliano Mer Khamis, actor and film maker, writer and director of Arna’s Children

From 1989 to 1996 film maker Juliano Mer Khamis filmed Palestinian children in a theater group run by his mother Arna. Arna was a remarkable woman, born into an Israeli zionist family who married a Palestinian Arab, Saliba Khamis. She started the Jenin Theater for Palestinian children to help them express their everyday frustration, anger, bitterness and fear regarding the Israeli occupation. In 2002 Juliano Mer Khamis returned to Jenin after his mother Arna succumbed to cancer, only to find the town devastated by Israeli tanks and gunfire in the infamous battle of Jenin. However, the property destruction he witnessed did not compare to the destruction of the lives of the children in the camp. They were now men, many participating in the militant resistance. Some had been killed in the battle of Jenin. Others had committed suicide attacks in Israel. Arna’s Children is a documentary tracing the lives of a group of young Palestinian men from childhood into adulthood shaped by the occupation.

Now Juliano Mer Khamis is embarking on a new project to keep his mother’s legacy alive: The Jenin Freedom Theater. Funds are desperately needed. For more information, visit friendsofthejeninfreedomtheatre.org.

Arna’s Children will be screening on:

Friday, May 11th at 7:00 PM in the Echo Park Film Center, 1220 N. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Saturday, May 12 at 1 pm in the Community Room, 1115 El Centro Street, South Pasadena, CA 91030