Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias is essentially a way for the filmmaker to get a better understanding of her roots. But, as we watch, we also get to understand a bit about life as exiles (be it involuntary or the result of personal choice). It brings a decidedly female perspective on life in Palestine in the wake of the turbulence at Israel’s birth. Bye Bye Tiberias is Palestine’s official submission for Best Foreign Feature consideration.
Soualem was born in France. She would visit family in Palestine as a child in the summers. But no one ever wanted to talk about the past. They would say, “Don’t open the door to past sorrow.” But now she brings the perspective of four generations of women to bear on a family history that is tied to the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people.
The history here begins in 1948 when her great-grandparents were displaced from their village of Tiberias. Tiberias was one of the many Palestinian villages destroyed by the nascent state of Israel. While some (including one of Soualem’s great aunts) crossed borders into Syria, Jordan, or Lebanon, her great-grandfather would not leave his homeland. Eventually they settled into Dier Hanna, a village thirty kilometers from Tiberias.
Soualem’s mother, Haim Abbass, left as a young adult to be an actor in Europe. Hers was a voluntary exile. She says she felt suffocated in Palestine. But, whether voluntary or not, to lose one’s home is a life changing event.
While the main focus of the film is on the family’s history, we are also drawn into the history of Palestine, especially the displacement of so many in 1948. Although the film doesn’t look much at the ongoing conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, we are aware that those tensions have yet to be resolved.
This film serves to create a legacy of these women’s lives that have been through trials and joys in the midst of changing and challenging times. Of course, there is no going home to the past. In the case of Tiberias, a place that was destroyed. But even for later generations times and places change and evolve. For this group of women, the most important constant has been family.
Bye Bye Tiberias is in limited release.
Photos courtesy of Lightdox.
