ADVOCATE

Director(s): Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche
Producer(s): Paul Cadieux, Joelle Bertossa

2019 | 110 min | Israel
Languages: Hebrew | Arabic | English

Since the early 1970s, Jewish-Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel has made a career out of defending Palestinians in Israeli courts: from feminists to fundamentalists, from non-violent demonstrators to armed militants. As far as most Israelis are concerned, she defends the indefensible. As far as Palestinians are concerned, she’s more than an attorney, she’s an ally. ADVOCATE follows Tsemel’s caseload in real time, including the high-profile trial of a 13-year-old boy while also revisiting her landmark cases and reflecting on the political significance of her work and the personal price one pays for taking on the role of “devil’s advocate.”