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Longing for 'popular cinema' in Haifa

A folk cinema, the name is magical, a small cinema of the people in the folk neighborhood of Neve-Shaanan, where good people live who work in all kinds of crafts. It is also a secular neighborhood, with few bars and cafes, and yet, it also has synagogues and synagogues - this is a neighborhood that represents the sane Haifa, like the great Polish Jewry was before the war. "Live and let live" - ​​the secular are free and respect their religious neighbors and the religious understand that the Torah comes first, but it cannot be imposed on others by the power of political blackmail.

So is this cute movie theater, which has a cafeteria with reverse lauvza, parcels and hot apple drink and a welcoming staff. In the hall you meet people you know from different circumstances of your life - an experience that the busy 'cinema factories' in shopping malls cannot provide, with their synthetic atmosphere, the giant speakers, the frosty air conditioners and the violent films produced in computer graphics - the noise can kill the viewer and wake up the murdered the screen.

Cafe Emmi Cinema in Haifa (Photo: Yoel Wunderman)
Cafe Emmi Cinema in Haifa (Photo: Yoel Wunderman)

Popular cinema is missing... When you get to it, you have a choice between two good films, which will be replaced, in two hours, by two other good films. On the other hand, in the "film world" you hardly find one good movie out of twenty bad ones...

We miss this experience, because we, the adults of Haifa, remember how our partnership was formed. We would invite a worthy young woman to a movie and another movie, holding hands or not, with the partner... After a few bits of Hollywood loveliness, we even managed to hug, in the dark, in the last row.

Gone with the Wind? And maybe the good old days will return and we will stop with this zim-zoom from the flickering screen and the nervousness of the wireless mouse...

Haifa quarantine days, January 2021

contact: At watsapBy email

Naphtali in white
Naphtali in white
Writer and poet, secretary of the Association of Writers in Haifa and the North, former high-tech person and manager of Beit Miller in Haifa

Articles related to this topic

18 תגובות

  1. Yes indeed. A nice intimate cinema that usually has quality movies with a quality audience. You can also come in slippers.
    Eli Zeidan, thank you very much. I hope the lockdown ends soon.

  2. And for the old Haifaites remember well: Domino Marion, the oldest of them all, Hadar, which is undergoing massive changes these days

  3. Dear readers, you moved me, how was the article written: Everything is closed, so I went to buy a cappuccino at: UNICO, which is a small factory for quality coffee, I sat with the paper cup and waited for my friends, then I remembered this magical cinema and immediately wrote my memories into the WhatsApp application, after that At home I edited it a bit and after some horses I sent it to the nice friends from "Hai-pa".
    I will add one more memory - about 40 years ago there were children's plays in a folk cinema. I took my little daughter and we sat in the first row right in the aisle. A band called "The Brothers and Sisters" appeared in a musical show called "Shovi-Dobi", all the songs were written by Gidi Koren who is a doctor and left the country a long time ago. One of the zemrip-actors was dressed in bear fur, at the climax of the show the "bear" came down to the children He scolded me and said to Micromon "Sir, do you like honey?" The little girl was very frightened and started to cry, and I started to calm her down...
    And more: in Haifa there is an abandoned building of the "Moriya" cinema. It was also a great neighborhood cinema, it's a shame that it stands in ruins.
    Yours, Naftali

  4. Exciting. So accurate. There were also school plays there sometimes. We would go to the same movie several times. The cinema of our childhood and youth and the wonderful neighborhood where we grew up. Miss you.

  5. Really longing for a movie theater of the past, for quality movies, for coffee and full-wheat pretzels in a peaceful and intimate atmosphere. The pace and quiet suit us, unlike everything that happens in the media and all kinds of zooms...waiting for the reopening.

  6. Longing for a distant time when we were young
    period of. Outdoor games bike trips
    Their friends are in the yard of a youth movement. and movies in the cinema
    We start TV and landline broadcasts with difficulty
    to Naftali I would like to mention the television electronics class at Beit Rotenberg, where I used to go by bicycle together with a good friend who passed away.

  7. An old movie theater, with a peaceful and magical atmosphere, to escape the daily marathon I would come to the small and inviting cinema and enjoy myself, arriving before to enjoy the coffee and pastry.

  8. I still remember that every year on Holocaust Day, people come to see the 81st blow at a folk cinema that was the only one in Neve Shaanan, even before it was divided into two theaters.

  9. To the best of my recollection, it was in 1966 when I saw Eric Einstein performing in a folk cinema. And I was hysterically excited like a stupid Saturday, you know.
    Later, the cinema was a place of refuge and relaxation during the stressful period of the matriculation exams.
    And over the years it was the place where I could watch two or three movies a day.
    Missing my Paradiso Cinema.

  10. It's a shame about the cinema, so also the pensioners on Tuesday for NIS 10 a ticket and presenting a veteran's card had nowhere to go. As a resident, a complacent navigator

  11. Indeed, it's sad to see a closed cinema. Maybe the next one will be really soon. Amen.

  12. To the cinema management, before opening the cinema again, please change the number of the theaters:
    On the left side is hall number 1, and on the right is hall number 2.
    That's how it is in mathematics, from left to right and not the other way around!!!
    I have asked this before because it is the first instinct to locate the hall where his idleness is shown, the ticket is bought, and to this day, talk to the walls!
    Please, the work for changing the signage is really marginal!!!

  13. completely missing. A cute article about a cute movie theater from a long time ago... when we were kids...

  14. One of my first memories is the appearance of Chava Elberstein in a folk cinema. First time I was at her concert and I think it was in 1966 or a year later.
    And in general, every day of the Holocaust we screened films for children on the subject.
    Over the years, Yossi and I were a regular audience there and later, so were the children and grandchildren.
    I liked very much. Thank you Naftali.

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