This week in Jerusalem 314834

Peggy Cidor’s round-up of city affairs: There is no judicial reason to prevent the new Cinema City from opening on Shabbat.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Cinema City under construction370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Cinema City under construction370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Meet me at the movies, Part I
According to a Finance Ministry legal adviser, there is no judicial reason to prevent the new Cinema City from opening on Shabbat.
The primary agreement among the ministry, the owner of the land at the entrance to the city on which the cinema is built, and the developer who built it, rules that the place may operate on Shabbat. But Finance Minister Yair Lapid and his deputy, MK Mickey Levy (the capital’s former police chief and a Jerusalem resident), requested fresh legal advice – and the ruling at the end of last week also found that it may stay open. Sources inside Safra Square say that now Mayor Nir Barkat will not have the choice of opposing the screening of movies on Shabbat and holidays, despite some reservations he might have about bringing more tension to relations with haredi members of his coalition.
Meet me at the movies, Part II
Is the Jerusalem Cinematheque going through a serious crisis? Apparently so– judging by the fact that director Alesia Weston, brought in especially from the prestigious American Sundance Institute, has resigned after less than a year in the position. On top of that blow, the cinematheque – despite being a beacon of culture for Jerusalemites and guests from all over the country and abroad – has a deficit of some NIS 10 million, casting a heavy shadow over its capacity to go on functioning. For the moment, everyone at the venerable institution is busy focusing on the upcoming Jerusalem Film Festival, its flagship project, which is celebrating its 30th year and promises to be particularly remarkable this year.
But sources at the institution have expressed fear that this crisis is of such magnitude that it may endanger the continued operation of the cinematheque.Architecture or protest?
The annual Houses From Within event – considered one of the most popular and successful events of the year – has raised interest among Arab residents of the city. In a joint call to the directors of city community centers, three directors of community centers in the Arab sector have asked to be included in the next event. The three large Arab neighborhoods of Beit Safafa, Beit Hanina and Isawiya should be part of the project and reveal how the residents live, declare the three directors.
At the municipality, there is some hesitation as to how to react, since the request includes a protest against the lack of construction permits and infrastructure investment in Arab neighborhoods.
Besides the fact that it is not clear how many visitors will agree to include Arab neighborhoods in their event circuit, sources inside the municipality have cited security reasons, adding that Houses From Within is a cultural and tourist-oriented event and that the neighborhoods’ protest against the establishment is not exactly what the organizers had in mind. Still, at least officially, the suggestion is under consideration, with the municipality looking to find a way to gradually include Arab neighborhoods’ architectural structures in the next Houses From Within event.The game is just beginning
The Jerusalem Municipality’s Sports Department will be kicking off the Euro 2013 soccer championship for under-21 competitors with a celebratory “soccer carnival” next week at Safra Square.
The carnival, which will take place from June 3 to 5, will be the opening event for the official competition, which will consist of four games at Teddy Stadium. Among the festivities will be open tournaments for youth, and encounters with veteran players from the Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem teams. There will also be a fair amount of sports paraphernalia and entertainment on display for children and families. Entry is free.Special needs, special arts
Tzamid, the annual theater festival for and by people with disabilities, is back, offering a wide variety of cultural events across the city from June 2 to 6.
This is the festival’s seventh year, and it will be featuring more than 60 events and shows, involving over 300 artists and creators in different artistic fields. The events will take place at the Khan Theater, Beit Mazia, Beit Shmuel, the Gerard Behar Center, Safra Square, the Hebrew University campus and several community centers.
An initiative of the municipality’s arts, culture and community department, the Tzamid festival involves disabled people of all ages and with different kinds of handicaps, from across the country and from abroad. Some 20,000 of the city’s residents have mental or physical disabilities.
There will be light
The Jerusalem Light Festival is returning for the fifth time.
This round is the largest thus far, with 17 international light artists contributing beautiful displays of sculptures in light. The festival will be accompanied by music and street performances on the narrow streets of the Old City as well as a circus show and, for the first time, a competition for amateur and professional photographers.
The festival is sponsored by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Tourism Ministry and the Ariel Municipal Company, the festival’s producer and director, with the support of Bank Yahav. Ariel CEO Tzion Turgman stresses that the festival, which brings in some of the world’s most renowned illumination artists every year, has become a major means to enhance the city’s economic and cultural life, with growing numbers of tourists and visitors.
The festival will run from June 5 to 13, from 8 p.m. to midnight, except Friday evening. Entrance is free.Duty and pleasure
Tourism, generally linked to pleasure, is a significant means to bolster the economy of a city – especially in Jerusalem.
That, among other issues, is what underpinned the Second International Jerusalem Tourism Summit, held this week at the International Convention Center. At the conference, Mayor Nir Barkat announced that in the coming year (assuming he is reelected, of course), he plans to create 100,000 new jobs, a large portion of which will be in the field of tourism.
One of Barkat’s platforms in his 2008 campaign was his promise to bring 10 million tourists to the city – a pledge he said he is ready to make good on. Jerusalem attracts some four million tourists annually (compared to two million four years ago) – Israelis and foreigners alike, bringing the total of nights spent in hotels to 3.1 million a year for 2012.
On the first day of the conference, business magnate Sheldon Adelson was given a special award for his contribution in developing innovative ways to encourage tourism to Israel.Educated Barbarians
“Post-Living Ante-Action Theater: Together Forever?” is the title of a new exhibition and performance scheduled for next week at the Yaffo 23 gallery.
My Barbarian, a Los Angeles-based artists’ collective that involves the work of Alexandro Segade, Makik Gaines and Jade Gordon, deals with some of the basic issues of our time, such as faith, community and history. The collective is conducting a three-week workshop with 10 local artists at Bezalel in music, theater, dance and more, with most of the works based on improvisation and physical expression.
Supported by the Jerusalem Foundation, the performance will take place on June 4 at 8.p.m.