Lemon Tree is a poignant and deeply human drama from Eran Riklis that uses a simple yet revealing story to illuminate the complexities of life on the Israeli-Palestinian border.
The film centers on Salma, a Palestinian widow whose peaceful existence tending her family’s lush lemon grove is shattered when the Israeli Defense Minister moves into a fortified home right next door and declares her trees a security threat.
Refusing to surrender her heritage, Salma launches a courageous legal fight — taking her case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court — with the help of a young lawyer and unexpected sympathy from the minister’s own lonely wife. Through rich performances and Riklis’s finely calibrated storytelling, Lemon Tree reveals how courage, empathy and quiet resistance can flourish even amid deep political divides, turning a fight over fruit trees into a resonant human drama.
Directed by Eran Riklis, Suha Arraf
