SURVIVING MALKA LEIFER

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Nicole, Dassi and Elly Sapper are three young girls growing up in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Community in Melbourne. In their parents’ eyes they will do as all young women in the community do: find husbands, have children and continue the traditions of their insular faith.

In 2008 that expectation is shattered when allegations surface that the three sisters were abused by their headmistress Malka Leifer. Rather than report her to police, the school board help Leifer flee to Israel with three of her eight children in the dead of night.

For the sisters, the escape sets in motion a decade of anger, frustration and determination to bring Leifer back to face her crimes. On their journey, Nicole, Dassi and Elly uncover an astonishing web of secrecy, family betrayal, international bank transfers, and political intrigue.

It also leads to diplomatic tensions between allied nations as the process to extradite Leifer drags on for years, exposing high level political corruption in Israel to protect Leifer, which leads to a police investigation. 

After a decade on the lam, Leifer is finally forced back to Australia, facing 90 counts of child sex abuse. The sisters are elated, but now have to grapple with, indeed pay, the price of being a victim seeking justice. They do so not just for themselves, but to forge a path for others too.

After twelve years, and countless false starts, Leifer’s trial begins in the Victoria County Court on 1st August 2022. The girls will finally have their day in court. This landmark documentary is with them every step of the way. 

With exclusive access to the three young women at the heart of this story, Surviving Malka Leifer brings us into a world closed off to mainstream society; a world in which victims are silenced and a paedophile protected.