Run time: 83 mins

Lina Soualem’s poignant documentary traces the stories of four generations of Palestinian women in her family.

Hiam Abbass is the Franco-Palestinian actor who has been a consistent presence in international cinema for more than 20 years, now her own personal story emerges – partly – in this heartfelt cine-memoir directed by her daughter Lina.

Blending tender interviews with archive footage of Palestine before the devastating 1948 Nakba, Soualem draws a map that illustrates the disorienting evolution of stolen lands. There is a persistent tension in the film between the history of those who were forcibly displaced, and Hiam, who made the autonomous choice to leave.

In an especially heartbreaking section, we meet Hiam’s mother, as they take her back to the village of Tiberias, where their family was expelled to make way for the creation of Israel.

The melancholy aspect of the film comes from its willingness to listen to the women who have kept the secrets of their scars, but melancholy is not a reason to avoid it, beyond it being a timely education on the deep familial devastation of war and displacement, Hiam is luminous as a documentary subject