“Emotional” was the word that virtually all the moviegoers at the Jerusalem Cinematheque used on Monday night at the first screening there in nearly a year. The first film shown, not coincidentally was, Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece of magic realism mixed with neo-realism, Miracle in Milan, a tale of the downtrodden overcoming their grim lot through belief and love.
“It’s a very emotional night,” said Roni Mahadav Levin, the cinematheque manager, who introduced the movie to the approximately 50 mask-wearing audience members who could not be kept away once they heard the movie mecca was open for business again.
The patrons there were “our regulars,” he said. One veteran moviegoer, Edna, said that when the cinematheque was open for business in the past, she would trek there nearly every day from Pisgat Ze’ev, and planned to continue with this habit again.
The Cinematheque did open briefly in late June for about 10 days and held some outdoor screenings nearby, as well as having tiny screenings of just 10 audience members for the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival in December – a festival that would normally have taken place in the summer.
“This was the longest time the Cinematheque has been closed since it first opened,” Mahadav Levin said. “Lots of the staff are here, they really wanted to come.”
Noa, a student, said: “As soon I heard about the reopening, I got very emotional, after what we’ve been through the last year, I immediately bought myself a ticket.”
Ethel, another student, posed for pictures next to the Cinematheque logo outside the building, and she said that she and her friends “grew up going to the Cinematheque all through high school... We’re so glad it’s back, we’re checking the program and planning to come all the time now.”
Wearing masks in an approximately half empty auditorium was a small price to pay, although there was a glitch in the beginning that delayed the screening for a few minutes: Many did not realize that they needed a green passport to enter and that a vaccination certificate was not sufficient.
The security guards were prepared for this and with quick keystrokes managed to download and activate the green passport app for half a dozen “cineastes,” who waited in the cold night air to be admitted.
Haim Edelstein said: “I didn’t realize how much I was longing to see a classic movie here again until I got inside.” De Sica’s classic film, which features extraordinarily beautiful cinematography, “was the perfect movie to see to get back to our usual life. I’ve seen enough Netflix. I want cinema.”
Moviegoers leaving the screening who had not realized there was a second film showing, An Unexpected Love starring Ricardo Darin, checked to see if they could order a ticket at the exit, hoping to go right back in.
“I would stay all night if I could,” said Maya.
“I just hope we can be confident now that everything is really going back to normal this time,” Mahadav Levin said, as he went to help Edna figure out how to work her green passport.