20TH edition NOVEMBER 24 TO DECEMBER 2, 2023
20th edition
November 24 to December 2, 2023
A French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker and actor, Lina Soualem was born in Paris, where she is still based. She started her career as a programmer for the International Human Rights Film Festival in Buenos Aires. Her debut feature-length documentary, Their Algeria, had its premiere in the Visions du Réel International Film Festival in 2020. It went on to receive the First Film Award at the Cinemed Montpellier International Festival of Mediterranean Film, the Best Arab Documentary Award at the El Gouna Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award at the Cinemania Film Festival, among a dozen other awards. Soualem has appeared in three feature films, directed by Hafsia Herzi, Hiam Abbass, and Rayhana. She currently works as an author of fiction films, documentaries, and television series. She recently worked as a researcher and writing coordinator on the Disney+ series, Oussekine.
In leaving her village to follow her dream of becoming an actor, 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.
Director Lina Soualem
Producer Jean-Marie Nizan
Screenwriter Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous in collaboration with Gladys Joujou
Cinematographer Frida Marzouk with additional cinematography by Thomas Brémond, Lina Soualem
Editor Gladys Joujou
Sound Gervaise Demeure, Julie Tribout, Benoît Biral
Music Amine Bouhafa
Colour Colour, black and white
Production Company Beall Production, Altitude100 Production, Philistine Films
International Sales Company Lightdox