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Bye Bye Tiberias

by Lina Soualem, France, Palestine, Belgium, Qatar, 82′, 2023

Filmmaker Lina Soualem travels back in time and place to capture the stories passed on by four generations of daring Palestinian women in her family.


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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.

 

SCREENINGS & AWARDS

World Premiere: Venice Film Festival – Giornate degli Autori 2023

2023 Toronto Film Festival (North American Premiere)
2023 BFI London Film Festival (UK Premiere)
2023 Arab Film Festival Tubingen
2023 DOK Leipzig (German Premiere)
2023 MIDDLE EAST NOW Festival
2023 Chicago FF (US Premiere)
2023 CINEMED (French Premiere)
2023 Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (South Asian Premiere)
2023 DOC NYC (NYC Premiere)
2023 IDFA (Dutch Premiere)
2023 ZINEBI (Spanish Premiere)
2023 Efebo d’Oro
2023 RIDM (Canadian Premiere)
2023 Porto/Post/Doc (Portuguese Premiere)
2023 Exground Filmfest
2023 Marrakech Film Festival (MENA Premiere)
2023 London Palestine Film Festival
2023 Bristol Palestine Film Festival
2024 Palm Springs International Film Festival
2024 Ramdam Film Festival
2024 Tromsø International Film Festival (Norwegian Premiere)
2024 Filmtage des Milttelmeeres
2024 Festival de cinéma En Ville!
2024 Antenna Documentary Film Festival (Australian Premiere)
2024 Big Sky DFF
2024 Joburg Film Festival
2024 Tempo Documentary Film Festival (Swedish Premiere)
2024 HUMAN International Documentary Festival
2024 International Filmfestival Assen | Woman & Film
2024 Borderlines FF
2024 Palestinian FF Australia
2024 FIFDH
2024 Madrid Francophone Film Festival
2024 MujerDoc International Documentary Film Festival On Gender
2024 CPH:DOX
2024 Sguardi Altrove Film Festival
2024 Cleveland International Film Festival
2024 Human Rights Film Festival Zurich
2024 É Tudo Verdade / It’s All True
2024 Festival cinéma du monde de Sherbrooke
2024 Chicago Palestine FF
2024 Malmo Arab FF
2024 AlFilm Festival Berlin
2024 DocsBarcelona
2024 DOXA
2024 Flying Broom Int’l Women’s FF
2024 Taiwan International Documentary Festival
2024 Subversive Film Festival
2024 èStoria Film Festival
2024 Festival De Cine Africano – FCAT, Tarifa & Tangier African Film Festival
2024 Encounters Film Festival
2024 Tofifest
2024 Karlovy Vary
2024 Sevil International Women’s Documentary Film Festival (Azerbaijan Premiere)
2024 Doc Edge Festival (New Zealand Premiere)
2024 Le Cinéma sous les étoiles – Cinema under the stars Montreal 
2024 Guanajuato International Film Festival (Mexican Premiere)
2024 MDOC, Melgaco International Documentary Film Festival
2024 Gåsebäck Film Festival
2024 Espoo Cine IFF
2024 Her Docs
2024 Imagine India Festival

And more: Singapore Film Society, Arab Women’s Film Festival/ Mostra de Cinema Árabe Feminino, International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Palestine Arts Film Festival, Pasaje International Film Festival, Arab Film Festival Bergen, Some Prefer Cake

Upcoming: Pravo Ljudski Film Festival (Sept 25-30), Toronto Palestine Film Festival (Sept 25 – Oct 2), Sofia Documental (Sept 28 – Oct 6), Major Docs (Oct 1-5), Bangalore International Centre (Oct 2), Lisbon International Arab Film Festival (Oct 1-5), Inconvenient Films Festival (Oct 8-27), Media Film Festival Man in Danger / Festiwal Mediów Człowiek w Zagrożeniu (Oct 9-13), Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (Oct 9-13), Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (Oct 23 – Nov 10), Women’s Worlds Film Festival (Oct 23-29)

AWARDS

“In Bye Bye Tiberias, Lina Soualem has woven an elegant exploration of three generations of women in her family and the places that made them. She has created a poetic and intimate film that transcends the borders of their family home, to interrogate grief, identity, and the energy that propels you to find yourself.” 

Documentary Competition Jury Statement, Grierson Award at BFI London Film Festival 2023
  • Award Ulysse Decipro – Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole in the Documentary Competition at Cinemed 2023
  • Audience Award at FIFAM Festival International du Film d’Amiens 2023
  • Premio Michele Mancini at Efebo d’Oro festival 2023
  • Jury Prize at Marrakech Film Festival 2023
  • Nominated for Best Documentary at Film Independent Spirit Awards 2024
  • Nominated for Best Documentary by International Cinephile Society (ICS) 
  • Jury Prize in the International Competition at Festival de cinéma En Ville! 2024
  • Best Feature Documentary Award at Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2024

“A profoundly affecting, tender film, moving through sadness and longing, to forgiveness and reconciliation.  Without hate, yet not without simmering anger, the film wrestles with the question of statelessness, and the rupture and trauma of exile, asking: how do you find your place – in every sense – when you have been displaced from your homeland, from your family?  
Bye Bye Tiberias is a beautifully-crafted interweaving of the filmmaker’s family stories over four generations, declaring the intergenerational healing power of storytelling. It’s a heart-wrenching personal story – as well as a microcosm of the broader story of modern Palestine, with which it resonates deeply.  We are unanimous in declaring this film the Best Feature Documentary of this year’s Antenna Film Festival.”

Jury Statement, Best Feature Documentary at Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2024

“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

Selected for Best Documentary category at European Film Awards 2024

PRESS

Reviews: The Indiependent, Financial Times, The Guardian, Hyphen, Little White Lies, Sight & Sound, El Pais, Film Ireland, Variety, myDylarama, Screen Daily, Culturefly, Reel News Daily, Taxi Drivers, AWFJ, L’Espresso, The Film Verdict, Screen Daily, Cineuropa, Nina Rothe Blog
Interviews: The Skinny, A Rabbit’s Foot, Polyester, The Guardian, The Times, Hyphen, France 24, The National, The Film Verdict, The New Arab, Film Daze, POV Magazine, Deadline, Filmmaker Magazine, The National, Cineuropa, Business Doc Europe, Variety, Hollywood Reporter Italy, FRED, Asharq News, GQ Middle East

***

“Soualem’s sophomore effort is an emotional journey”

Christopher Vourlias, Variety

“dazzling in its choice of archive” … “immensely moving”

Nick Cunningham, Business Doc Europe

“an incredibly personal investigation where the intimate interlaces with the upheavals of history” … “the film is an instructive and touching mosaic where past and present overlap, and a keen sense of heritage and transmission shines through“

Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa

★★★★ – “Gets under your skin and stays there”

Rõgan Graham, Little White Lies

Fittingly for such a tender, timely film, these moments remind us of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of great suffering – sparks of joy in the darkest of places.

Rachel Pronger, Sight & Sound

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY

Lina Soualem
French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker and actress, born and based in Paris. After studying History and Political Science at La Sorbonne University, Lina worked as a programmer for the International Human Rights Film Festival in Buenos Aires. Lina’s debut feature documentary Their Algeria premiered in Visions du Réel International Film Festival 2020. Their Algeria received more than a dozen awards, such as the First Film award in CINEMED, the Best Arab Documentary award in El Gouna Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award at Cinemania Film Festival 2021. Lina acted in three feature films directed by Hafsia Herzi, Hiam Abbass and Rayhana. In 2020, she worked as a researcher and writing coordinator on the series OUSSEKINE (Disney+). Her second feature length documentary, Bye Bye Tiberias premiered in 2023 at The 80th Venice International Film Festival, then got selected at TIFF, BFI London Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, IDFA, DOC NYC, RIDM, Palm Springs & more. The film received several awards such as the Best Documentary Award at the BFI and the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival. Bye Bye Tiberias was chosen to represent Palestine at the Oscars 2024 and was nominated in the Best Documentary category at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. 

Filmography (selection)

Bye Bye Tiberias, 82min, 2023
Their Algeria, 72min, 2020

CREDITS

Director Lina Soualem
Screenplay Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous in collaboration with Gladys Joujou
Cinematography Frida Marzouk
Editing Gladys Joujou
Original Music Amine Bouhafa
Produced by Jean-Marie Nizan
Co-produced by Guillaume Malandrin, Ossama Bawardi, Mohannad Malas, Jacques-Etienne Stein
Production company Beall Productions
Co-production companies Altitude100 Production, Philistine Films, Tala Corp., Edmond Production

In association with ARTE France

WITH THE SUPPORT OF

Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), PROCIREP & ANGOA, Doha Film Institute, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), International Media Support (IMS), Cinema and Audiovisual Center of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, The Belgian Tax Shelter and Inver Invest


PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY

Jean-Marie Nizan
Jean-Marie Nizan is a director and producer of documentaries and audiovisual programs. After studying architecture, he turns toward moving images. He directed documentaries, TV shows, music recordings and short programs. He is the author and director of several documentaries on cinema and culture, from Femme et cinéaste (1996) to Cinéma by Michel Hazanavicius (2018). He directed films about cinema in Iran, China, Thaïland, Argentina, Australia and more. Since 2016, within Beall productions, he has produced films of all formats for cinema and television (Arte, Canal+, France Television, OCS as well as Ciné+). He also produces films for public institutions such as the Rmn – Grand Palais or the Paris Opera. Built around an association of directors & producers, Beall Production is a company that is used to all shooting and editing configurations. Through their personal experiences in production, direction, or conception of TV programs, videos for the Web, for social networks, trailers, short and long documentaries, they adapt to any situation. Stories are always at the center of their reflection.

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Beall Productions is a production company funded in 2012 by a collective of directors and producers. The company provides delegated or executive production for numerous documentaries, short programs and magazines, both for television for cultural organizations and for theater/cinema. Since its creation, the company has built solid foundations with the core business of its founders: a production company turned towards culture and in particular cinema and its links with society. Today, it continues to develop with a double desire to open up to projects more directly linked to history, society and global issues, and to new authors and directors. Beall’s production team is used to all shooting and editing configurations: reporting, live recording, direct, graphic design, archives. Stories are always at the center of their reflection. A story is told, is passed down, travels. It writes itself in our minds and in time. A story is made of words, but also images. That’s how Beall loves to tell them, by associating the two.

Beall Productions
43 rue de Saintonge
75003 Paris
info@beall.fr
+33 1 43 48 76 11
https://www.beall.fr

CO-PRODUCTION COMPANY

Altitude100 Production
Belgium
Rue du Fort 109, 1060 Bruxelles
+32 2 533 18 90
info@altitude100.eu
https://www.altitude100.eu

Philistine Films
Palestine
info@philistinefilms.com
http://www.philistinefilms.com

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