German filmmaker Marcus Vetter has teamed with international sponsors, including leading 3D company XpanD, to renovate and reopen the sole standing cinema complex in the city of Jenin in the West Bank.

Cinema Jenin will be reintroduced to the public with a film festival August 5-7, with the premiere of Vetter’s film, The Heart of Jenin, which recounts the story of a Palestinian man’s decision to donate his 12-year-old’s organs to Israeli children after an Israeli soldier accidentally shot the boy. The reopening also includes a new state-of-the-art 3D system, donated by XpanD, which will be unveiled at the festival and utilized for feature films on a regular basis.

XpanD donated the system after being approached by industry partner Carsten Schuffert of Bewegte Bilder Digital Cinema in October 2008. “The story of this heartwarming decision shines a humanizing light on the tension in the Middle East and the shadow this conflict is casting on the innocent bystanders in the area,” stated XpanD CEO Maria Costeira. “The arts, especially cinema, are universally appealing to all cultures, as they provide a window to catch a glimpse at some of these rarely seen aspects of the area’s day-to-day situations. It is XpanD’s hope that with Jenin’s addition of a 3D cinema, locals will have an opportunity to enjoy beautiful films, taking the constant, uneasy thought of war out of their minds for a few hours at a time.”

The XpanD system installed in Cinema Jenin includes 500 pairs of X101 active 3D glasses, two infrared emitters, a synchronization distribution module, active glasses infrared tester, power supplies, and a complete hardware set including wiring, connections and cables.

For more information about Project Cinema Jenin, visit www.cinemajenin.org.
For more information on XpanD, visit www.xpandcinema.com.