Cinema and Theater in Jaffa
Palestine was among the pioneering nations in the region in film production, with the earliest recorded film screening in 1908 in Jerusalem. Palestine was also the subject of the Lumeire brothers’ first films and a short on Palestine can still be watched “Palestina en 1896“. Jaffa and Jerusalem had the most cinemas in Palestine. Jaffa boasted 17 cinemas (there is not a single cinema in Jaffa in 2024) in addition to multiple informal spaces and rooms used for film screenings.
A private invitation to attend Um Kulthum’s concert on her Palestine tour:
“Festivals of Joy and Happiness in the cities of Palestine are honored to welcome the singer “Nightingale of the East and the Arab nations” with her 5-person band who present selections of the most beautiful and purest songs on Sunday and Monday, May 5 and 6″
Cinema Apollo
The first cinema in Jaffa was Cinema Apollo in Al Ajami neighborhood, not far from Al Kamal pharmacy. Actualizing a dream of the Zamaria family, Cinema Apollo was built on the main street in the wealthy Ajami neighborhood. Apollo was equipped for movies, theatre shows, and concerts. Apollo was run by a Jaffan woman, mentioned in the newspaper only as the widow of Yousef Zamaria or “Madame Zamaria”. Ms. Zamaria was the owner and director of Apollo and its programs. In 1929, the biggest newspaper, Falastin promoted Apollo:
“The Apollo cinema, under the direction of Yousef Zamaria’s widow, brought interesting artistic dramas not yet screened in Palestine. Recently it screened the film Tremble of Love, which was successful in Europe. Madame Zamaria brings the best dramas and screens them in the Apollo Cinema even before they have been screened in other places. We ask that residents appreciate her efforts and support her.”
Falastin ran another story about the cooperation of Jaffa’s Sailors’ Union and Cinema Apollo preparing for a concert of the Egyptian megastar “Star of the Orient” Um Kulthoum. A contract between the Jaffa Sailor’s Union and Um Kulthoum’s agent was made for Um Kulthum’s two-week Palestine tour for two hundred pounds per concert. In October 1931, Um Kulthoum’s private yacht anchored at Jaffa port. The daughter of an Egyptian imam and the Arab world’s biggest star, Um Kulthoum started her Arab-world tour in Jaffa. In addition to Jaffans and the wealthier urban Palestinians who traveled for the concert, thousands of peasants and farmers traveled to Jaffa from all over rural Palestine and waited in the open and on the sidewalks for about a week for the concert. The Egyptian-Palestinian transportation business cooperation’s busses had an international trip of a 12-hour bus ride of the route Cairo-Jerusalem-Jaffa trip. People arrived to the concerts in Jaffa all the way from Cairo, Beirut and other cities in the region.
Um Kulthoum arrived again on her private yacht for another concert tour beginning at Apollo cinema and theater in May 1935. Apollo designed a life-size statue of Um Kulthoum that decorated the cinema’s facade for her visit. Pharmacist Fakhri Gedai recalls his father attending Um Kulthoum’s concert. The cinema stood on al-Hilweh St. next to Terra Santa School, the spot where Alfred Roch suffered a fatal heart attack. Um Kulthoum also appeared on ‘Opera Maghribi’ in Jaffa. Tickets for the Jaffa concert were also sold to Haifans at Ahmad El Jundi and Rustom Abu-Ghazale. Tickets went for 400 or 300 Mils for men and 350 or 300 Mils for women.
Cinema Al Hamra
In 1937 the most luxurious cinema, Al Hamra opened its doors. Al Hamra rose as an iconic location in Jaffa’s cityscape with its unique Art Deco style designed by Lebanese architect Elias al-Mor. With its 1100 seats, Alhamra became the most influential cultural center in Jaffa and Palestine. The cinema was founded by a group of businessmen from the media field (including Faik Shukri Can’aan, Mohammad Abdo, Radwan Hallaq, and Mohammad al Husseini). Jaffa had clusters of culture, Al Hamra was located on central Jamal Basha Street, next to Cinema Farouq and Cinema Nabil right across from Cinema Rasheed. With Al Hamra alone having 1100 seats, in addition to over 10 more cinemas nearby, thousands of participants and visitors met before and after the shows in the ‘Cafe Area’ full of cafes, bars and restaurants. The oldest continuously functioning cafe in Jaffa until 1948, was Midha Cafe. It was in Al Manshiyya neighborhood, naturally on Mahatta Street (Train Station Street). Opposite this cafe a new establishment was opened, Cafe Inshiraah. Cafe Inshiraah became the biggest, and most prestigious cafe where the intellectuals and creatives met. At the beginning of the street was Cafe Lamdani. This was the buzzing heart of Palestine.
In addition to films, Al Hamra hosted large theatrical performances. On 21 August 1943, an advert in Falastin newspaper tells about the famous Egyptian actress Fatma Rushdy and her first Jaffa performance “Cleopatra’s Fate”, with 60 actors and actresses. Alhamra also hosted concerts, national festivals, cultural and other events, such as boxing matches of the Jaffan national boxing champion Adib al-Dasouki, some of which were hosted as fundraising for Syria and Lebanon. A newspaper covered Dasouki’s match with Egyptian champion Mohammed Faraj wrote that the match brought around 5 thousand guests to Cinema Alhamra, with many waiting outside. Among the attendees was Dr. Youssef Haikal, Mayor of Jaffa.
Jaffan film industry
An urban city with nearly 20 cinemas, Jaffa was consequently the birthplace of Palestinian film. The first Palestinian film was shot in 1935 by Ibrahim Hasan Serhan and was a documentary on King Saud bin Abdelaziz al-Saud’s visit to Palestine (prior to becoming king). Serhan initially filmed and produced it as a short silent film and later added music. Serhan was also the maker of the first Palestinian feature film titled “Holiday Eve” which he made in a production studio he established in 1945 with Ahmad Hilmi al-Kilani called the “Arab Film Company”. In 1945 Serhan also established the “Falastin Studio” the first film studio in Jaffa. Serhan was a natural in the film industry, seeking different projects and endeavors, he also joined Jamal al-Asphar producing a 45-minute film raising awareness to support orphans. His ready films and the films he was working on were lost in 1948, upon the bombardment, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Jaffa.
Another Jaffan, Muhammad Salih al-Kayyali studied film directing in Italy after establishing a photography studio in Jaffa in 1940. The Arab Bureau of the League of Arab States commissioned him to direct a film on the Palestinian issue “Dreams Come True”, to help support an orphanage. Another film was commissioned about ‘Palestine Studio’, in which the two famous dancers, Shams and Qamar (Sun and Moon) appear in addition to the Palestinian singer Sayed Haro.
Let’s Act
The press and theater were the most important keys of the Renaissance movement in Palestine. Already between 1911-14 in Jaffa, the “New Bar Theatre” was a place dedicated to theatre with a stage for artistic performances of singing, orchestras, and theatrical plays. The Lawrence Hall, The New Lecture Hall, and the Freres School’s hall hosted theatre performances. Two cafés were known to host theatre performances: The Athrafiyya and Al Ballour Cafés. Local associations that had theatre groups were “The Jaffan National Economic Company” and “Mar Mansour Association”. There were two professional Palestinian music bands in Jaffa: “The Modern Choir” and “The Charitable Theatre”. Men and women were known to be on stage, we know of the role of Victoria Bahhous, regarded as a professional actress who among others played Ghada at the Al-Andalus theatre play.
Raise the Sheikh
“The Egyptian choirs arrived in Jaffa with the Khedive ship, and about 50 actors and actresses descended from it with Sheikh Salama and George Effendi Abyad. After Jaffa, they continue to travel to Beirut accompanied by Sheikh Okasha. The same evening the choir performed Louis XI’s novel, and the turnout was great, but half of the hall was standing, for not only had too many tickets been sold, but those who were entrusted with the task of keeping the door and deterring the people could not hold people back. This, is in addition to the thousands crowded in the streets. The calm lasted until the end of the third chapter when the attendees learned that Sheikh Salama would not be performing. A person in the audience stood up and a commotion took over the hall, the order was lost, and the cheers deafened the ears…The choir apologized for the Sheikh’s illness and asked everyone to come the next night, but this did not convince the audience. The choir got upset and took off their theatre clothes, and a large crowd went around two o’clock after midnight and raised the Sheikh from his bed and brought him to the theatre. The Sheikh sang some verses…The people of the town sent a delegation to apologize to George Effendi Abyad for what happened the night prior, and when he came in the evening as a spectator, the hall rose for him, and the applause was prolonged…George Effendi Abyad, Sheikh Salama Hijazi, and Abdullah Okasha would perform for two more nights in Jaffa, because the French ship they intended to travel on, turns out, does not go directly to Beirut, but stops on its way to Haifa and Acre.”
Palestinian Cinema’s Destruction
During the period before the Nakba, there was a clear targeting of the urban structure and cultural venues in Jaffa by Zionist gangs. On December 30th, one night before New Year’s in 1947, a truck stopped in front of Cinema Al Hamra, dropped a barrel on King George Boulevard, and drove away. The barrel rolled a few meters down the road and in a few seconds exploded right next to upscale Café Venezia. This was the last New Year’s Eve for the Jaffans in their city.
After the fall of Jaffa, Al Hamra was first appropriated into an Israeli bank, then renovated by an Israeli architect who maintained the original design of Elias al-Mor and turned Al Hamra into the biggest Scientology center in the Middle East.
References
https://www.albawabhnews.com/951359
https://bokra.net/Article-1376326
https://customrodder.forumactif.org/t4909-alhambra-cinema-1937-jerusalem-israel
https://www.facebook.com/groups/250393808379626/permalink/1589931267759200/