To Israelis, it was the War of Independence. To Palestinians, it was the Nakba — the catastrophe. “Tantura,” from Israeli documentarian Alon Schwarz, begins with audio from the 1948 U.N. Declaration that led to the founding of Israel and the subsequent clearing of Arab populations from the region. While it aims to contextualize self-perpetuated myths of national glory, it focuses more specifically on the tiny Palestinian fishing village of Tantura, the site of an alleged massacre by the Idf, and one Israeli researcher’s squashed attempts to expose that history 50 — now almost 75 — years later.
Though it features brief moments of confrontation with elderly Israeli subjects — some of them soldiers who were present at the time — for its first hour. However, in the final stretch of its 85-minute runtime, this approach proves foundational for chilling revelations and quiet, cinematically self-evident questions about the way we remember history.
If “Tantura” is about one person,...
Though it features brief moments of confrontation with elderly Israeli subjects — some of them soldiers who were present at the time — for its first hour. However, in the final stretch of its 85-minute runtime, this approach proves foundational for chilling revelations and quiet, cinematically self-evident questions about the way we remember history.
If “Tantura” is about one person,...
- 12/1/2022
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Indiewire
In the Israel-Palestine atrocity doc “Tantura,” director Alon Schwarz gives thorough consideration to the evidence and probable causes for war crimes from 1948 that Israeli soldiers committed in the Arabic village of the movie’s title. Schwarz mostly focuses on testimonials gathered by Teddy Katz, a former University of Haifa scholar who wrote a master’s thesis in 1988 that accused the Israel Defense Forces’ Alexandroni Brigade of the mass execution of 200 Tantura residents.
Schwarz uses new interviews that he conducted not only to support but also to contextualize the damning evidence that Katz gathered over an estimated 135 interviews. Rather than just dramatize Katz’s findings, Schwarz also questions why the surviving Alexandroni vets uniformly refuse to believe Katz.
“Tantura” starts with what at first seems like an unnecessary interview with the four surviving founders of the Northern Israeli Nachsholim kibbutz settlement. In this opening interview, Schwarz puts a heavy emphasis on...
Schwarz uses new interviews that he conducted not only to support but also to contextualize the damning evidence that Katz gathered over an estimated 135 interviews. Rather than just dramatize Katz’s findings, Schwarz also questions why the surviving Alexandroni vets uniformly refuse to believe Katz.
“Tantura” starts with what at first seems like an unnecessary interview with the four surviving founders of the Northern Israeli Nachsholim kibbutz settlement. In this opening interview, Schwarz puts a heavy emphasis on...
- 11/28/2022
- by Simon Abrams
- The Wrap
Teddy Katz in Tantura. Alon Schwarz on his process: 'I said: “This is my data. This is raw data and I'm going to use my intelligence and my logic to listen myself to the raw data. I don't want to be affected by Teddy's work or by the transcripts or by the court case, and the academics.”' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Alon Schwarz’s Tantura examines events surrounding the depopulation of the Palestinian village of the same name, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Through interviews with some of the soldiers and villagers who were there at the time, the documentarian examines allegations that war crimes were committed, including the massacre of citizens and the creation of a mass grave. The film uses tapes gathered by Teddy Katz, whose resultant paper a couple of decades ago led to a libel trial and him being hounded out of academia.
- 2/4/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If you asked a random group of Israelis and a random group of Palestinians to describe the events that surrounded the founding of Israel in 1948, you’d probably come about as close as you could get to a world political “Rashomon.” The Israelis would likely tell the story of their nation’s founding as a heroic saga of Zionist destiny cloaked in historical justice. The Palestinians would likely tell the story of how they lost their nation, and would evoke that loss with the phrase they have always used to describe it: The Nakba (“The Catastrophe”).
Hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed by the Israelis in 1948, and at least 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. To this day, however, to utter the words “The Nakba” is a taboo in Israeli society. Alon Schwarz’s documentary “Tantura” explores just why that is. And it does so by digging into what has been,...
Hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed by the Israelis in 1948, and at least 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. To this day, however, to utter the words “The Nakba” is a taboo in Israeli society. Alon Schwarz’s documentary “Tantura” explores just why that is. And it does so by digging into what has been,...
- 2/1/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Rumors say that this year’s Sundance selection is more political than ever, and “Tantura” is no exception. Producer Alon Schwarz previously made his name with his 2016 Holocaust-themed documentary Aida’s Secrets. This time, he re-explores the question of displacement with a subject closer to home: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of 1948. Playing as a part of the World Cinema – Documentary Competition, he grapples with the period’s core questions. How do we – and how should we – approach history? Why should certain narratives be privileged over others? What responsibilities do we have to uphold certain stories? With the bloodstained beaches of Tantura in mind, Schwarz interrogates modes of past, present and future historiography.
“Tantura” is playing in Sundance as a part of its World Cinema – Documentary Competition
The film begins its investigation with Teddy Katz, a University of Haifa alumnus. In his student years, he pointed out that Tantura – contrary to...
“Tantura” is playing in Sundance as a part of its World Cinema – Documentary Competition
The film begins its investigation with Teddy Katz, a University of Haifa alumnus. In his student years, he pointed out that Tantura – contrary to...
- 1/28/2022
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Perhaps the most harrowing thing in Tantura, a striking documentary from Alon Schwarz, is the nervous laughter that slips out of the mouths of old men allegedly complicit in a massacre decades earlier. They snicker and smirk at the suggestion of their malice, either convinced they were justified or blinded by their own lies. It’s a brutally human reaction that is deeply unsettling to absorb. War allows for the rationalization of evil. And the banality that often follows appears to be an act of denial. As Schwarz and his collaborators present the evidence of the eradication of the Palestinian village Tantura by Alexandroni soldiers (an Israel Defense Forces brigade), this all becomes quite clear.
In 1948, following the controversial approval of The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, war broke out between Arab and Jewish factions, both claiming a right to the same land. Of course, the Arab villages...
In 1948, following the controversial approval of The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, war broke out between Arab and Jewish factions, both claiming a right to the same land. Of course, the Arab villages...
- 1/22/2022
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
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