Save Smadar

August 30, 2009 - 12:04 PM by

The entrance to the theater

The entrance to the theater

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a share in a movie theater, now could be your moment. After 80 years of operation, it looks like the Smadar Theater in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighborhood is going to be closed, and will end up as yet another luxury building site.

Community organizers in Jerusalem are gathering signatures and shekels to counter the possibility of this particular sale, given the theater’s mythological place in the city’s cultural history. More than that, it’s simply a favorite theater for locals, given its arthouse cinema atmosphere, cafe and quaint location on leafy Lloyd George Street. The Smadar is the only theater in Jerusalem where you can bring in your beer from the bar, along with a carton of popcorn. The seats are purple, the screen is big enough, and given the village-like character of Jerusalem, you always know someone else in the theater.

cinema1_waThe Art Deco style building was first used by British soldiers during the Mandate period, and was opened to the public in 1935 as ‘the Orient’. It was purchased by four former soldiers after Israel’s War of Independence, and then sold out to one of the four, Aryeh Chichik, who ran it as a family business for many years.

Jerusalem poet Yehuda Amichai mentions the Smadar as a symbol in his poem, ‘Tichye Reviit,’ and more than that, it has become a symbol of pluralism in Jerusalem, as it was the first theater to stay open on Shabbat, and offers a Sabbath alternative to secular Jerusalemites.

It is Jerusalem’s Cinema Paradiso, and would be sorely missed by many, if sold. There’s no doubt that Chichik’s daughters, who have been battling in court over the property, will make millions from a sale, given the real estate values in the neighborhood. But the rest of us will lose yet another piece of local history and a very special cinema experience.

Tags: , , , • Category: Art, Business, History and Culture, Movies 

Comments

2 Comments on Save Smadar

  1. Jessica on Tue, Sep 1st 2009 1:02 PM

    2. From a friend, who did a little more research about the Yehuda Amichai poem:

    “In the volume “Even the Fist was once an open hand and fingers” there is a poem called “Fourth Resurrection” – it is the 4th poem under the title “Four Resurrections on Emek Refaim Street.” In it, there is a reference to the seats in a destroyed movie theater. The name of the theater is not mentioned, but since it is on that street, it can only be Smadar. In the Hebrew, it is on p. 58, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find an English translation.

    Also, in the volume “Open Closed Open” there is also a cycle of poems about the neighborhood where the Smadar Theater is located entitled “An Evening Promendade on the Valley of the Ghosts Street” (or in Hebrew “Tiyul leli be-emek refa’im” – p. 77). The theater is not mentioned in that one.”

    Thanks to Joyce…

  2. Jessica on Wed, Sep 9th 2009 11:20 AM

    3. And an addendum to this story: The community won, and “Jerusalem officials have granted a reprieve to an 80-year-old cinema after public protests over its proposed sale to developers. The city planning and construction committee yesterday approved Mayor Nir Barkat’s recommendation that the Smadar theater in the German Colony be listed for preservation, and continue to be used as a cinema.” — http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1113070.html

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