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Arna's Children
Juliano Mer
Khamis and Danniel Danniel
Arna
Mer Khamis was a legendary activist against
the Israeli Occupation. Born into a Jewish
family, she married a Palestinian Arab and
spent her life campaigning for justice and
human rights in her homeland. Arna founded
an alternative education system for Palestinian
children whose lives had been disrupted
by Israeli occupation. In the Jenin refugee
camp, Arna opened a theatre group where
she taught the children to express anger,
bitterness and fear through acting and art.
The children slowly grew to trust and to
love Arna: "She's like my mother,"
says one child. "She helps us. She
saved us from the streets." Arna's
son, Juliano Mer Khamis, was a director
at the theater group and filmed his mother
and the children rehearsing and performing
over a six year period. When Arna died of
cancer in 1995, the theater group struggled
to continue for another two years but ultimately
did not survive.
Five
years after Arna's death, Juliano, now one
of the region's leading actors, returns
to the camp to discover what happened to
"Arna's Children." Shifting back
and forth in time, Mer Khamis's film juxtaposes
the sweet-faced young boys with the militants
and martyrs they become. "Arna's Children"
reveals the tragedy and horror of young
lives trapped by the circumstances of occupation.
A Word from
the Director
"Yousef
committed a suicide attack in 2001. Ashraf
was killed in the battle of Jenin. Ala leads
a resistance group. I returned to the ruins
of Jenin with my camera, to see what happened
to the children I knew and loved...my film
tries to tell their stories and to understand
their choices."
- Director, Juliano Mer Khamis
Reviews
"A
must-see documentary. Sure to spark controversy
for its straightforward presentation of
the Palestinian struggle, ['Arna's Children']
limns a devastating group portrait of the
legacy of occupation."
– Variety
Related Items
Clip
and photos
Book:
Searching Jenin - Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion 2002, by Ramzy Baroud
Arna's
Children official website
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