Bethlehem, West Bank - 8 April 2016
1. "Jihan's Smile" play being performed on stage. UPSOUND (Arabic): Jihan "But I feel like seeing the sea". Jihan's father: "When the sun will rise again I promise you I will take you to see the sea."
2. Italian painter on stage trying to restore Jihan's smile
3. Italian painter and Jihans' father negotiating price. UPSOUND (Arabic and Italian): Jihan's father: "What?". Painter: "Final price, 8.000". Bird: "Final price, 8.000"
4. Children watching play
5. Actors playing Jihan and her father performing on stage
6. Establishing shot of festival director Marina Barham
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Marina Barham, "Yalla Yalla" festival and al-Harah theatre's director
"We've organised this festival because the Palestinian children's week is in April and through our festival we try to invite different theatre groups from different countries to perform plays and show different cultures to our children and their families. Through our festival we want our voice to be heard all over the world and to say that Palestinian theatre is professional, that it's skilled and of high quality. We want to bring back joy to our children. Theatre and art are a way of resistance against the Israeli occupation."
8. "Jihan's Smile" being performed on stage. UPSOUND (Arabic): The Sun "Jihan, we all need you. Try to help us. May God bless you. Goodbye.". Jihan's father (Arabic): "Goodbye."
9. Young people in audience laughing
10. Various "Jihan's Smile" being performed on stage
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Nicola Zraineh, Palestinian actor
"We Palestinians have lots of stories to tell and perform on stage: stories related to politics, society, traditions and customs that we try to change in a positive way through theatre so as to bring a positive effect to children, youth and the society in general."
12. "Jihan's Smile" play being performed on stage
13. "Jihan's Smile" director, Raeda Ghazaleh, talking to actors at play rehearsal
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Raeda Ghazaleh, "Jihan's Smile" Director
"Art is expensive. Usually countries give big funds for it so that performers can work. In Palestine we lack such a thing, so all groups work on finding funds locally or internationally in order to continue spreading culture and the values of humanity that we need daily."
15. Jihan dancing on stage after getting her smile back
16. Audience
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Yousef Ghazaleh, audience member:
(Talking about what he learned from the play): "We should stay happy. If we become sad, everyone would be sad and that's not nice."
18. Various Palestinian children and youth at al-Harah theatre gathering ahead of "Jihan's Smile" performance
19. "Jihan's Smile" programme
AP Television
Beit Jala, West Bank - 12 April 2016
20. Various of "Here I Am" play by Ogonblicksteatern group
21. Toddlers and their parents in audience, watching "Here I Am"
22. "Here I Am" being performed on stage
23. Close on woman's face in audience
24. Actors interacting with babies in audience
25. Various "Here I Am" play
26. "Here I Am" actors and play director, Johanna Salander, during rehearsal
27. SOUNDBITE (English): Johanna Salander, "Here I am" play Director and Ogonblicksteatern group Artistic Director:
"Palestinian groups can learn from us that babies are very competent from the beginning and they are able to really participate in cultural events. Also for the parents, I think many of them doesn't seem like that babies can concentrate for so long time and that they are interacting very early. So that is what I think we can give the Palestinian groups, and they can give us a lot about the audience participating and engaging in theatre very early, because they're very good at making people come to theatre."
28. "Here I Am" play being performed. UPSOUND (Arabic): "I am here"
29. "Yalla Yalla" theatre festival poster
WEST BANK THEATRE FESTIVAL
LEAD IN:
The first Palestinian children and youth theatre festival is taking place in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
"Yalla Yalla" features performances by Palestinian and European companies and aims to introduce theatre to a new generation.
STORY-LINE:
This little girl on stage has lost her smile, leaving her father desperately looking for a solution to bring joy back to his daughter's life.
The girl is the main character of "Jihan's Smile", a play shown here at Bethlehem's Al-Harah theatre as part of the "Yalla Yalla" international children and youth festival.
The young Palestinians in the audience attentively follow this moving tale about sadness, parental love and the search for true happiness.
In the play everyone gets involved to try to restore Jihan's smile: from the sun itself to a flamboyant Italian painter.
Based on a story by Egyptian-Canadian writer, Karim Alrawi, "Jihan's Smile" is one of the many shows on offer at this 10-day festival, that includes theatre performances by groups from Poland, Sweden and France.
Marina Barham is director of the festival and the Al-Harah theatre. She says that the idea is to the foster positive change through theatre and introduce this art to a new generation of Palestinians.
"Through our festival we want our voice to be heard all over the world and to say that Palestinian theatre is professional, that it's skilled and of high quality. We want to bring back joy to our children. Theatre and art are a way of resistance against the Israeli occupation", Barham says.
Palestinian actor, Nicola Zraineh, plays Jihan's increasingly worried father. The actor is one of the co-founders of Al-Harah theatre and has been working on stage since the year 2000.
With shows available mainly in the big cities, Palestinian actors bring theatre directly to people's homes, performing in villages as well as Palestinian refugee camps, Zraineh says.
In return, Palestinian politics, society and traditions offer constant inspiration for the local theatre. As Zraineh explains:
"We Palestinians have lots of stories to tell and perform on stage: stories related to politics, society, traditions and customs that we try to change in a positive way through theatre so as to bring a positive effect to children, youth and to the society in general."
Palestinian actors are not limited to the local scene but travel around the world to share their art, from Arab countries to Asia, Zraineh adds.
Palestinian theatre has been around since the beginning of the 20th century and has been asserting itself on the cultural scene ever since, says "Jihan's Smile" Director, Raeda Ghazaleh.
It was in the 80's that local theatre became more established, Ghazaleh says but laments that it's plagued by a lack of funds.
At a theatre in Bet Jalla, near Bethlehem, Swedish theatre group Ogonblicksteatern is performing in front of a special audience: children aged 6 months to 1 and a half years.
The Swedish play, "Here I Am" appeals to the youngest of audience members and deals with the babies' identities and sense of self.
The idea is that from the first months of their lives babies are capable of following a theatre play, says Johanna Salander, director of "Here I Am" and artistic director of the Ogonblicksteatern group.
This is the third time that Salander has visited the West Bank to work with Palestinian groups; the "Yalla Yalla" festival, she says, is an opportunity for both to learn something from each other.
The "Yalla Yalla" festival runs from 7 to 16 April 2016.
