Lina Soualem
French filmmaker, journalist, and actress
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Lina Soualem is a French filmmaker, journalist, and actress.
- Zinedine Soualem (father)
- Hiam Abbas (mother)
Lina Soualem | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paris, France |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Parents |
|
| Family | Mouna Soualem (sister) |
Early life and education
Soualem was born in Paris, the daughter of actors Hiam Abbas and Zinedine Soualem[1] and sister of actress Mouna Soualem. She is of Palestinian descent on her mother's side and Algerian descent on her father's. Her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother were displaced from Tiberias during the Nakba.[2] Soualem's mother would speak Palestinian Arabic at home, and the family regularly holidayed in Auvergne and Palestine.[3]
Soualem studied History and Political Science at the Sorbonne[which?].[4][3]
Career
Soualem began her career as a journalist[5] and acted in her mother's film Inheritance (2012)[6] and Rayhana Obermeyer's I Still Hide to Smoke (2016).[7] She voiced Yassar in the 2018 Norwegian animated film The Tower and then featured in Hafsia Herzi's You Deserve a Lover the following year.[8]
During this time, Soualem worked on her directorial debut and first documentary Their Algeria on her Algerian paternal grandparents and their immigration journey to France in the 1950s.[9][10] She then served as a story editor and researcher on the 2022 Disney+ series Oussekine.[11]
Soualem's second documentary Bye Bye Tiberias explores her own mother Hiam Abbas' background and family history as she left her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career before returning.[12][13] Both Their Algeria and Bye Bye Tiberias depict "painful history" and its generational effects on families.[14] Bye Bye Tiberias opened at the 2023 Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim.[15] The film received a number of accolades, including a César Award nomination, in addition to being the Palestinian submission for the Academy Award for Best International Film.[16]
Soualem will direct her first fiction feature film titled Alicante, starring her sister Mouna.[17]
Filmography
Filmmaking credits
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Their Algeria (French: Leur Algérie) | Yes | Yes | Cinematographer | Documentary |
| 2022 | Oussekine | No | Story editor | Researcher | 4 episodes |
| 2023 | Bye Bye Tiberias | Yes | Yes | Additional cinematography, sound recordist | Documentary |
| TBA | Alicante | ||||
Acting credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | La Légende de Parva | Indra | Voice role |
| 2012 | Inheritance | Alya | |
| 2016 | I Still Hide to Smoke | Meriem | |
| 2018 | The Tower | Yassar | Voice role |
| 2019 | You Deserve a Lover | Lina | |