Lina Soualem, 2023, 82 min.

Screening followed by a Q&A with Director Lina Soualem and Thomas Dodman

In French and Palestinian Arabic with English Subtitles

Leaving her village to follow her dream of becoming an actress, Hiam Abbass also left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to journey through the vanished places among the scattered memories of four generations of daring Palestinian women.

“This urgent personal documentary of longing, displacement and connection illuminates Palestinian family archives at a time when these documents and stories are being erased in the ongoing genocide. Cinematically weaving generations of matrilineal history with that of her motherland, we honour filmmaker Lina Soualem for her courage and artistry.”

Jury Statement, Feature Documentary Award at DOXA Documentary Film Festival 2024

Produced by Maison Française and co-sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies, MESAAS and Middle East Institute at Columbia University.