Cinema City will expand Jerusalem Film Festival’s footprint in the city; Old City will host free outdoor screenings of blockbusters including Inception.

This year’s edition of the festival is adding a new venue, Cinema City, which will expand the festival’s footprint in the city.

“We’re trying to spread it around the city, there  had  been criticism that it’s too much at the Cinematheque,” said festival producer Eran Polishuk. “It’s quite cool that more communities can benefit. And the screens are great quality.”

There will be shuttles running to Cinema City (10 Yitzchak Rabin Blvd.) from the Cinematheque.

The 19-screen complex opened at the end of February at a cost of $71m. The complex also includes restaurants, shops, Bible City and a museum of Jewish cinema.

In addition, the festival is hosting free outdoor screenings in the Old City, with films shown in English and subtitled in both Arabic and Hebrew, running Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Polishuk added, “That’s like a mini three-day festival.”

Those screenings, at Mauristan Square and Habonim Garden, will feature blockbusters such as Inception, Man of Steel, Ratatouille, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Matrix and Pacific Rim.

Plus, on the walls near the Jaffa Gate, the Israeli Film Archive will present scenes of historical Jerusalem and other archive treasures from 20:00-23:00.

The festival also continues its longtime relationship with arthouse cinema Lev Smadar.

Plus, the festival’s screening and live performance of the fictional telenovela Batya M. - The Return Home will take place at the Sala-manca Group Home in the Musrara area, bringing the audience into the ‘home’ of the show’s protagonists.