The Blessing and the Curse

Stephen Lentini

Director

Closed-off to most of the world, the filmmakers were granted exclusive access to an isolated Jewish settlement in the Northern West Bank called Itamar which sits between two mountains- the Mountain of the Blessing and the Mountain of the Curse. On the night of March 11, 2011, two terrorists penetrated the security fence of the community, entered the home of the Fogel family, who were asleep in their beds, and brutally murdered the parents and three of their children, including a three-month-old who was nearly beheaded. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE explores the aftermath of the crime and examines how the memory of that night still haunts the people of Itamar, and poses the question: Why would anyone choose to raise their family in such a dangerous place?