Dispossessed and in exile: Palestinian Lina Soualem's upbeat feature opens FIFDH film festival

'Bye Bye Tiberias' tells the story of four generations of Palestinian women who managed to keep their memories alive despite dispossession and exile.

Transcript

00:00 For 10 days every year in March, Geneva hosts the International Forum and Film Festival on Human Rights,

00:07 combining cinema and debate on human rights violations around the world.

00:11 From Russia to Palestine, global conflicts and struggles are countless and intensifying.

00:17 Reporting on them might make a difference.

00:20 There is nothing to be happy about in the world right now, if we talk about human rights.

00:25 But we believe that culture and especially the power of images through cinema can make a difference,

00:31 can bring strong stories, which can bring commitment and the desire to change this world in a better direction.

00:39 There is the sea. There is Lebanon.

00:45 For the opening on International Women's Day, the film "Bye Bye Tiberius" was shown.

00:51 It was presented at the last Venice Film Festival and directed by Lina Saoulem,

00:57 daughter of the great Palestinian actress Haya Mabass.

01:01 I often wonder what you would have become if you stayed.

01:04 What do I know, Lina, because I left.

01:09 It's a film about four generations of Palestinian women in my family,

01:13 about the way they managed to keep their history alive and their memory alive despite the depossession and exile.

01:20 I think it's very important to celebrate the lives of these women, their combativeness, their complexity,

01:26 to also value their humanity, especially in a context where Palestinians are completely dehumanized.

01:32 There are dozens of films to be discovered and debates to be had in Geneva before the festival's closing on the 17th of March.

01:40 A festival on human rights appears more than necessary today,

01:47 with the aim of bringing together artists, activists and the public

01:52 to mediate causes that are in peril all over the world.

01:56 In Geneva, Frédéric Ponsart for Euronews.

01:59 News.

01:59 [SWOOSH]