After the closing of Al Hamra and AK2000, Tyre ,South of Lebanon had no official cinema, but this is going to change soon. Kassem Istanbouli has taken the abandoned Rívoli Cinema of Tyre, for its restoration and opening as a Culture space for the city.

This  is the third space recovered  for Culture since year 2014 by Istanbouli team. Al Hamra Cinema of Tyre, Stars Cinema of Nabatiyeh  and now Rivoli Cinema at Tyre. " We are all very happy to come back to Tyre, as half  of the members of the team come from Tyre and we are really happy to bring theatre, cinema and music events to our city.", says Kassem Istanbouli .

By this action Istanbouli remarks that from 1959 to 1988 Rívoli Cinema brought high quality cinema and theatre events to the city of Tyre, and that it will return to bring culture to the city. "A beautiful cinema like Rívoli cannot continue abandoned as it was since 1988, we need it in the city", states Istanbouli. He remembers all the artists that visited Rívoli cinema in the past: Jean Marais, Brigitte Bardot, Rushdi Abaza, Emad Hamdy, Omar Hariri, Nadia ALjoundi, Anwar Albaba, Ibrahim Meraachli and Samira Tawfiq, Sheikh Imam, Remy Bendaly, Wadi Al Safi ,Muzaffar Anawab, Hassan Alaa Eddin, Duraid Lahham, the work of Jacob Chedrawiand, Marcel Khalife, Moein Bseiso and Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani. The history of cinema, of theatre, of music.

Rivoli Cinema kept working during the war and after being bombed in 1982. The first cinema of Tyre opened in 1939, the Roxy, and then in 1942 opened the Empire, in 1959 the Rívoli Cinema and  after some years another two cinemas opened: Cinema Dounia, in 1964, and Al Hamra in 1966. Now all of them are closed, but the Rívoli will reopen soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUxaFoBE_lU

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/Istanbouli.Theatree/?pnref=lhc
0096170903846
Tyre , Lebanon