Tantura

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Tantura

2022

1h 35m

Documentary

War

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Popcornmeter

94%

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31 Reviews

94%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The tape-recorded words "erase it" take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it "Al Nakba" (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura and explore why the Nakba is taboo in Israeli society. The ex-soldiers, now in their 90s, recall unsettling acts of war while disquietly pausing at points they either don't remember or won't speak of. Audio from Katz's 20-year-old interviews cuts through the silence of self-preservation and exposes the ways in which power, silencing, and protected narratives can sculpt history.

Critics Consensus

Tantura dives into a man's struggle to reckon with events that some may call means to freedom and others a massacre -- the birth story of many, if not all, civilizations.

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Maxwell Rabb

Chicago Reader

May 17, 2023

The documentary reevaluates the standards of truth, interrogating Israel’s dismissal of these events to begin a new, compelling conversation about Tantura.

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Carlos Aguilar

Los Angeles Times

Dec 2, 2022

A damning exposé of a nation unwilling to admit its primordial sins.

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Siddhant Adlakha

IndieWire

Dec 1, 2022

B-

When “Tantura” finally moves into its final act, the wider emotional ripple effects of its subject matter are difficult to avoid, as the question shifts from what is remembered to who is allowed to remember (and be remembered) in the first place.

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David Bax

Battleship Pretension

Aug 1, 2023

Over and over again, Tantura underlines, highlights and italicizes the saying, usually attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, that history is a lie agreed upon.

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Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Jan 15, 2023

Given the current official state of Israeli politics, with a new coalition government that includes a fascist party, Schwarz’s effort took some courage.

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Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

Dec 13, 2022

5/5

Documentary about the conflicting accounts of the genocide in a Palestinian village by Israeli troops, revealing the power of denial.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 Jan 26, 2026

Another massacre, another cover up. Truth and justice matter. Without it you get Netanyahu, Trump, lies and death. An important documentary that focuses on one man’s brave battle to uncover the truth that stares a scared nation in the face and has prompted blind denials. Watched on Amazon Prime.

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Deena C

@RT43808648 Mar 3, 2025

Warning: Confessions of Israeli soldiers openly admitted and laughing about burning, raping and killing Palestinians. A stark parallel to the events happening today in the continued oppression again palestinians by an ethnostate brokered by the English.

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Will S

@WillShetterly Jan 15, 2024

Anyone interested in Israel should see this. It should be assigned in Israel's schools for the equivalent of eighth grade. It is not just a documentary about a massacre and a cover-up; it's about memory, both personal and institutional.

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Nunuvyo B

@RT96886122 Jan 2, 2024

Fascinating movie. Reminds me of The Act of Killing where you see murders talk about what they did as if it was no more serious that mowing the lawn. Shows just how delusional Israelis have to be in order to avoid dealing with what horrors they inflicted on the Palestinians on and before 1948. A must watch for anyone that is still clueless about the true history of Israel.

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Julia D

@RT27787078 Aug 3, 2023

Making a lot of very small pieces of highly contested evidence, this plays to racists who want to believe in a massacre and ignores the context of a genocidal, illegal war by seven Arab nations in 1948 with the avowed intention of stealing land Jews had bought back from the colonialist Turks and of killing the Jews.

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margaret k

@RT47486372 Jan 7, 2023

A brave film. A brilliant and heartbreaking tale of a massacre of innocent Palestinians in the seaside village of Tantura. And the heartbreaking parallel story of what happened to the Israeli graduate student, Teddy Katz, whose research revealed details of this mass murder. The collective depth of toxic denial following Mr. Katz's revelations by Israeli academia & the powerful national government costs Katz his academic profession. For years, these "powers" tried to remove all traces of this 1948 mass murder. Thankfully, because of Mr. Katz and this remarkable film's director, we see and hear evidence of the massacre of innocent people & the Truth Wills Out.

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Alon Schwarz

Director

Teddy Katz

Self

Halil Efrat

Writer

Alon Schwarz

Writer

Shaul Schwarz

Writer

Maiken Baird

Producer

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Synopsis

The tape-recorded words "erase it" take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the State of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it "Al Nakba" (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain. Director Alon Schwarz revisits former Israeli soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade as well as Palestinian residents in an effort to re-examine what happened in Tantura and explore why the Nakba is taboo in Israeli society. The ex-soldiers, now in their 90s, recall unsettling acts of war while disquietly pausing at points they either don't remember or won't speak of. Audio from Katz's 20-year-old interviews cuts through the silence of self-preservation and exposes the ways in which power, silencing, and protected narratives can sculpt history.

Director: Alon Schwarz
Producer: Maiken Baird, Alon Schwarz, Shaul Schwarz
Screenwriter: Halil Efrat, Alon Schwarz, Shaul Schwarz
Distributor: Reel Peak Films
Production Co: Reel Peak Films, Slutzky Communication, Time Studios
Genre: Documentary, War
Original Language: Hebrew
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 2, 2022, Limited
Runtime: 1h 35m

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