A Reel War: Shalal
Karnit MANDEL
- Israel
- 2021
- 55min
- 12 +
- DCP
- color/black and white
IP
Synopsis
A filmmaker stumbles across film reels from a long-lost PLO archive seized by Israel in the 1982 Lebanon war. The deeper she digs, the more she comes into conflict with Israel’s defense apparatus, which denies possessing additional footage. Will she manage to wrestle back untold history, or will the reels forever remain buried?
Review
Archives are to be witnessed, as the filmmaker posits. As obvious as it may sound, with politics and power coming into play, this proposition would be put under a heated debate. A Reel War: Shalal begins with an Israeli archive where thousands of film reels are stored. Among them are the records of everyday lives of Palestinians from the mid-20th century, which are restricted from being disclosed by Israeli officials. These simple clips of the citizen’s ordinary lives apparently caused a discomfort to some.
This documentary follows the efforts of an archivist who tries to uncover the reels, while examining why the existence of the seemingly trivial footage would cause such a controversy. Furthermore, it reminds us of the important historical practice that is the preserving and restoring the archival materials after the initial production, which in and of itself is about giving them a new meaning.Director
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Karnit MANDEL
Karnit Mandel (born in Jaffa, 1977) is a director and visual researcher specializing in historic and Middle Eastern footage. She graduated Summa cum Laude from Tel Aviv University film department (BFA, MA) and worked as a picture researcher and consultant for celebrated Israeli documentaries.