Hiam Abbass: I see you each as a continuation of my path, in a manner. However I didn’t plan it. As a mom, I simply wished you to do what you wished to do.
Lina Soualem: Mouna, you at all times knew you’d be an actress. I felt that as a result of each our dad and mom [their father is the French Algerian actor Zinedine Soualem] acted, I’d by no means be pretty much as good as them, so I began working in journalism first. I feel I needed to undergo that to seek out my voice.
Mouna Soualem: I like your self-discipline and dedication [as a filmmaker], Lina. You don’t let go once you need one thing. It’s completely different being an actor, when a lot is out of your management and generally you could let go otherwise you’ll go loopy.
H.A.: We will additionally let go with a view to be anyone else. The primary time the three of us collaborated, for my movie “Inheritance” (2012), I used to be taking part in a mom, and also you two have been taking part in my daughters. Once we’re on set, although, I don’t relate to you each as my daughters, simply as you don’t relate to me as your mother. There’s no time for that.
M.S.: It may be difficult. There was that scene the place you needed to slap me, Mother. You’d by no means slapped me in my life, and once you did it, I cried. I used to be simply so stunned.
H.A.: And naturally, now we have disputes like everyone else.
L.S.: We argue extra about day-to-day issues than skilled issues; for instance, if certainly one of us isn’t serving to sufficient with making lunch.
H.A.: As a result of we’re a trio, if one of many three of us is ever in misery, the opposite two attempt to be a part of forces and assist them.
L.S.: Like when, Mouna, you have been going via the lengthy audition course of for “Oussekine” [the 2022 French series about the 22-year-old student Malik Oussekine, who died in 1986 after being beaten by police] — it was robust as a result of I used to be already engaged on the collection within the writers’ room and, Mother, you have been confirmed as an actress.
M.S.: I felt very pressured by everyone’s expectations. So we had a dialog sooner or later, and I simply mentioned, “Let’s decrease the strain.” We gave one another house, and two months later, the three of us have been working collectively on the present.
L.S.: Household is the perfect factor and probably the most troublesome factor. We’re fortunate that we’re in a position to open ourselves up artistically collectively. And I feel that inside the business, as girls, we’re now extra aware of our energy after we come collectively and talk.
M.S.: That’s partly why the documentary movies you’re bringing into the world, Lina, are so vital.
L.S.: The most recent, “Bye Bye Tiberias,” which is predicted for launch this 12 months, is about our Palestinian household. I filmed you [Hiam], your seven sisters and our grandmother. It’s concerning the transmission of our story via highly effective relationships between girls.
H.A.: I used to be terrified. It’s simpler for me to play a component than to be proven as myself, however you have been affected person with me.
Interview has been edited and condensed.
Make-up: Clara Barban-Dangerfield
Supply: NY Times
