Sewickley Film Series:The Power of Two

The Power of Two

English & Japanese
English Subtitles
94 minutes

Saturday, January 12
2:00 PM  Gregg Theater

The feature directorial debut of Academy Award nominated producer Marc Smolowitz, The Power of Two offers an intimate portrayal of the bond between half-Japanese twin sisters Anabel Stenzel and Isabel Stenzel Byrnes, their lifelong battle with the fatal genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF), survival through miraculous double lung transplants, and improbable emergence as authors, athletes and advocates for organ donation and those suffering from CF in the United States and Japan.

Parental discretion is advised.

The Heart of Jenin

Arabic & English
English Subtitles
90 minutes

Thursday, January 17,
7:00 PM  Rea Auditorium

The Heart of Jenin is the story of Ahmed Chatib, a Palestinian boy shot by Israelis whose father decided, within 12 hours, to donate his son's organs to six Israeli children to save their lives. In the film, Ahmed's father Ismail travels throughout Israel, from its northern hills on the Lebanese border, past the contended Holy City of Jerusalem, up to the edge of the Negev Desert in the south of the land, to visit the children who received Ahmed's organs. The film is the story of a humanitarian peace gesture that seemed, for a short instant, to prevail over the insoluble conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Parental discretion is advised.

Cinema Jenin

Arabic & English
English Subtitles
95 minutes

Saturday, February 2,
2:00 PM  Rea Auditorium

Cinema Jenin follows an ambitious initiative to re-open a previously abandoned cinema in the West Bank city of Jenin. Founded in the 1960s, it was once the largest cinema in the Palestinian territories. When the filming of Cinema Jenin began, it stood as a hollow echo of its society. Through re-building the cinema, Germans and Palestinians come together evoking often comedic but always political and cultural ramifications. This film witnesses an intimate, nuanced, and textured view into the city of Jenin and its domestic affairs as well as the journey of a dedicated, loyal, often conflicted group of people who hope that the re-building of the cinema will be a bridge to peace, education, and Palestinian self-empowerment.

Parental discretion is advised.