LONDON PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL 2026
NOVEMBER 13 - 27
HABIBI HUSSEIN
ALEX BAKRI, 2025, 93’
WEDNESDAY 18 NOVEMBER | 20:15
BARBICAN CINEMA 2, BEECH STREET, London EC1Y 8AA
Hussein is the last projectionist of the old cinema in Jenin. When a German NGO renovates the building, he desperately tries to prove his skills, hoping to reclaim his former job. But his craftsmanship and passion for cinema may no longer be enough as times have changed.
Cinema Jenin has stood abandoned for twenty years when a German NGO arrives to restore it. Hussein Darby, the cinema’s former projectionist, is determined to reclaim his place. Armed only with an antique toolbox, he struggles to prove his expertise against modern technology and foreign engineers. The film explores the complexities of development aid in Palestine while paying tribute to a fading cinema culture.