The Projectionist (Working Title), Work in Progress
This documentary follows two years in the life of Hussein Darbi, a Palestinian electrician, who in his youth was working as a projectionist in the local now abandoned cinema of his hometown Jenin in the West Bank. The political situation drew many international NGOs to the region. One of those was the “Cinema Jenin Project”, which aimed to reactivate the cinema. After 20 years, Hussein returns to the cinema and finds himself standing in the projection room once again. Willing to do whatever it takes to revive the past and get his old job back, Hussein tries to prove that he is a professional projectionist. His efforts lead him to various situations and encounters with his past throughout the West Bank, like a cinema owner who lives now in a mosque, an appointment with “The Godfather” and even a failed attempt to go to Israel. Although Hussein stretches his abilities to integrate in the project, he goes unnoticed, since the Germans have completely different plans. The sometimes comical cultural clash is inevitable.
By focusing on Hussein as a local in a foreign project, the film questions the meaning of development aid in general and it's influence on the local society.