Hiam Abbass reflects on what it meant to participate in Bye Bye Tiberias, the deeply personal documentary made by her daughter, Lina Soualem.

What began as fear—of a film centered on herself—slowly transformed into something much larger: a responsibility. Hiam came to understand that the film was not about her career, but about four generations of Palestinian women, shaped by exile, memory, and survival. Women who stayed. Women who were forced to leave. Women whose stories carry the weight of an entire people’s displacement.

“It became a duty,” she says. A choice to set aside personal pain in service of a collective history that must be told.

🎧 Watch Episode 69 to hear Hiam Abbass speak about family, exile, and why telling Palestinian stories is not optional—it’s essential.

🎧 Watch now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sQAwm6BGN8Q

🎙 Or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/53VSHIsLAcwrCflam08oiY?si=0b3LW9zDTGOk66YnBZuGtQ

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