Bye Bye Tibériade
by
MOVIE CATEGORY
At the age of twenty, Hiam Abbass left her hometown in Palestine to pursue her dream of becoming an actress in Europe, leaving behind her mother, grandmother, and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her daughter and director Lina returns with her to their native village and, for the first time, reflects on her mother’s courageous choices, her exile, and how the women in the family have influenced their lives. Through an intimate and graceful cinematic gesture, Soualem combats oblivion and claims the personal, historical, and visual heritage inherited from her. By processing the family history, it becomes possible to capture and preserve the images of a world which is rapidly disappearing; images that serve as evidence of a denied existence.
Spanning between the past and the present, Bye Bye Tibériade juxtaposes today’s images, family footage from the 1990s, and historical archives to portray four generations of bold Palestinian women who keep their history and heritage alive through the strength of their bonds, despite exile, dispossession, and heartbreak.
DIRECTORY
French-Palestinian-Algerian director and actress born and based in Paris. After studying History and Political Science at La Sorbonne University, she began working as a programmer for the International Human Rights Film Festival in Buenos Aires. In 2020 she directed her first documentary, Their Algeria, which premiered at Visions du Réel. The film received numerous awards. She has acted in three feature films directed by Hafsia Herzi, Hiam Abbass and Rayhana. She is currently a writer for fiction films, documentaries and television series. She recently worked on the series Oussekine in the scriptwriting team and as a researcher.
