Latinx Lens

60. Sundance Film Festival 2022: La Guerra Civil, Tantura

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Episode notes

Latinx Lens is attending the virtual Sundance Film Festival 2022! The festival runs January 20 to January 30.

In this episode, Rosa and Cat dive into two documentaries premiering at the festival:

"La Guerra Civil"

Dir. Eva Longoria Bastón

In 1996, Oscar De La Hoya, the charismatic golden boy from East LA, challenged Mexican-born boxing legend Julio César Chávez in what was billed as the “ultimate glory” fight. Mexicans on both sides of the border were forced to choose their favorite champ: the record-holding immigrant from humble beginnings, or the younger and more marketable Olympian born in the U.S. These rivals felt the pressure to prove their athletic superiority, while the fans’ choice of champion revealed the type of Mexican they aspired to be.

The film features detailed archival footage and enthusiastic interviews with Chávez and De La Hoya to illuminate a story that transcends language, heritage, and interests.

"Tantura"

Dir. Alon Schwarz

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 “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.

The now elderly ex-soldiers 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.