Rachel Leah Jones facts for kids

Rachel Leah Jones (born in 1970) is an American-Israeli filmmaker who directs and produces documentary films. Her film Advocate is about a human rights lawyer named Leah Tsemel. Rachel co-directed and co-produced this film with Philippe Bellaïche. It was first shown at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and won important awards at film festivals in Kraków, Thessaloniki, and Docaviv.

Early Life and Learning

Rachel Leah Jones was born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel. She studied Race, Class, & Gender, and how people are shown in media, at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She also earned a master's degree in Media Arts Production from the City University of New York.

Over the years, Rachel has worked on documentaries that explore social and political topics related to Israel and Palestine. She has been involved with groups that support peace and understanding, like the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem and the TV/radio show Democracy Now! in New York.

Her Filmmaking Journey

From 1992 to 1998, Rachel worked for non-profit groups. She helped raise money, wrote, and edited photos for the Alternative Information Center, which shares information about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She also worked for HILA, a group that helps different Jewish and Arab communities get fair public education. Rachel also helped coordinate projects for the Jerusalem Link, an Israeli-Palestinian women's group working for social fairness.

First Steps in Film

Rachel started her filmmaking career in 1994. She worked as a line producer and assistant director on many films. She often worked with director Duki Dror on films like the award-winning Raging Dove. She also worked with Simone Bitton on films, including Wall, which won a special award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Telling Stories with Film

Rachel's first documentary as a director and co-producer was 500 Dunam on the Moon in 2002. This film tells the story of Ein Hawd, a Palestinian village that was taken over in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The film was shown at many international film festivals and won an award for best documentary at the Festival de Trois Continents. It was also shown on France 2 television.

Her next big film was Gypsy Davy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. In this film, Rachel tells the story of her father, a white American who became a Flamenco guitarist in Spain and had five children with five different women. Rachel narrates the film as if she is writing a letter to her father. She also brings together his many wives and children to share their thoughts about him. Critics liked the film, and it won an award for Best Documentary at the International Women's Film Festival In Rehovot. It was later shown on Israeli TV and HBO Latin America.

In 2007, Rachel released her film Ashkenaz. This film looks at how people in Israel view Ashkenazi and Mizrahi communities and their social standing. It shows how the Ashkenazi identity is often seen as "normal" rather than just one ethnicity. The film got good reviews and was shown at film festivals around the world. It also led to special discussions with important cultural figures.

The Film Advocate

Advocate premiered at Sundance in January 2019 and in Israel in May 2019. This film became her most talked-about work. Co-directed and co-produced with Philippe Bellaïche, it tells the story of Leah Tsemel. She is an Israeli human rights lawyer known for defending Palestinian people, especially in big cases.

When the film won an award at Docaviv, some political groups protested, saying the film was "anti-Israel." This caused a lot of discussion about free speech and government involvement in art. Many artists, writers, and journalists spoke out against the attempts to stop funding for the film.

Film critics really liked Advocate. It opened the 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival and won top awards at festivals in Kraków, Hong Kong, and Thessaloniki. Because of the public reaction to the film, Rachel Leah Jones became even more well-known in Israel and around the world.

Working in Television

From 2001 to 2002, Rachel worked as an editor and camera operator for the US television program Democracy Now!, hosted by Amy Goodman. She helped the show move from being just on radio to also being on TV. She also produced other documentary programs. These included two episodes of the French TV series L'Invitation au Voyage about Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and Israeli novelist Aharon Applefeld. In 2005, she produced parts of Science of the Bible for National Geographic. In 2004, she worked on "Another Israel" for the France 2 program Un Oeil sur le Palenete.

Film and TV Projects

Film

Television

Awards and Recognition

Note: All awards and nominations for Advocate are shared by Philippe Bellaiche.