FRANCE, PALESTINE, BELGIUM, QATAR

2023 – color nd b/n – 82’

Direction: Lina Soualem

Screenplay: Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous in collaboration with Gladys Joujou

Cinematography: Frida Marzouk, Thomas Brémond, Lina Soualem

Editing: Gladys Joujou 

Music: Amine Bouhafa 

With: Hiam Abbass

Producer: Jean-Marie Nizan in cooproduction with Guillaume Malandrin, Ossama Bawardi

Production: Beall Production (Fr)  in coproduction with Altitude100 Production (Be), Philistine Films (Pa)

World sales: Lightdox

synopsis

In her early twenties, Hiam Abbass left her native Palestinian village to follow her dream of becoming an actress in Europe, leaving behind her mother, grandmother, and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to the village and questions for the first time her mother’s bold choices, her chosen exile and the way the women in their family influenced both their lives. Set between past and present, Bye Bye Tiberias pieces together images of today, family footage from the nineties and historical archives to portray four generations of daring Palestinian women who keep their story and legacy alive through the strength of their bonds, despite exile, dispossession, and heartbreak.

director’s statement

“We don’t belong to a place; we belong to the story of the place. In the film, I embody the fourth generation of women present on screen, and the first to be born outside of Palestine. I carry the memory of the women in my family and the history of exile and dispossession they faced. By telling their story, I reclaim the personal, historical and visual legacies that I have inherited. I question these legacies, confront them and intertwine them together in order to answer a question that haunts me: how does a woman find her place when caught between worlds? Passing on our story has always been central. With our words, we fight against erasure and oblivion. That is why I feel a constant urge to share these stories. By re-inventing the history of my family, I hope to not only reclaim my heritage, but to seize and preserve the images of a world rapidly disappearing. Images that stand as proof of a denied existence.”

2023 Mostra di Venezia – Giornate degli Autori 

2023 Toronto FF

2023 BFI London FF

2023 Arab Film Festival Tubingen

2023 Dok Leipzig

2023 Middle East Now Festival

2023 Chicago FF

2023 Cinemed

2023 Jio MAMI Mumbai FF