A Scary Good Time at the Willy Brandt Center

Spooky stories and secret tales of Jerusalem

On Saturday afternoon, September 12th, we invited the children of the Abu Tor neighborhood for a special program in our garden. Five young artists of the Ibtisamet Maqdisi Band from Jerusalem prepared for our small audience different plays, dance games, face painting and crafting workshops, as well as a theatrical performance of special ghost stories. The children were then surprised by a delicious artisanal cake in the form of a white ghost, made especially for the event by Francis, a talented pâtissier from Bethlehem.

Later that day and on the following evening, we turned the garden at the Willy Brandt Center into an open-air cinema with a big outdoor screen, popcorn and candlelight. As an introduction to our “Scary Evening”, we were excited to present the results of our research and offer our audience a selection of captivating spooky stories and secret tales of Jerusalem, many of which were hidden and discovered in archives. After the reading, the audience watched the screening of the legendary movie “Phantom of the Opera” from 1925, accompanied by Maria Neishtadt’s live music on the electronic organ. Both artist and audience truly enjoyed the rare chance to experience an artistic live performance during these times of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(12-13 September 2020)