I’ll Be Right Back
Original Title: Voy y Vuelvo
Direction: Andrés Khamis Giacoman, Francisca Khamis Giacoman
Production: Andrés Khamis Giacoman, Francisca Khamis Giacoman
Production Company: Condor Films
Duration (estimated): 70′
Genre: Creative documentary
Proposed Budget: 42,000 €
Synopsis
I’ll Be Right Back explores the relationship between Palestine and Chile through textiles, understood as an archive of migration, labour, and memory. Abandoned factories and family archives reveal a connection that persists even after the disappearance of the textile industry in both territories. Through Kamal, a narrative emerges, shaped by the experience of departure and the impossibility of return. His story enters into dialogue with the trajectories of Labibe, Lorice, the Lama Brothers, and the directors themselves, tracing different generations of displacement, return, and absence.
Letter of Intent
We are siblings from the Palestinian diaspora in Chile, working together in cinema for several years. I’ll Be Right Back is our way of exploring the connection between Chile and Palestine through textiles; understood as industry, knowledge, and community, linking bodies, history, and politics. We film active and abandoned factories, workshops, and industrial spaces in both territories, approaching them as bodies charged with memory. Through conversations, gestures, silences, and shared routines, we follow Kamal, Lorice, and Labibe. Footage by the Lama brothers explores auto-Orientalism and tensions between heritage, representation, and belonging. Rather than fixing an origin or closing a story, I’ll Be Right Back moves through displacements, repetitions, and returns. For us, filmmaking means returning to places, people, and questions, allowing memory to persist.
Director
Andrés and Francisca Khamis Giacoman are siblings born into the Palestinian diaspora in Chile. Their work explores identity, memory, and belonging, addressing the complexities of the Palestinian experience in the Chilean context. Their creative practice is grounded in collaborative filmmaking and research. Their films and video installations have been exhibited internationally at festivals and venues including the Locarno Film Festival, Gijón International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Doha Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, FIDOCS, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26, Manifold Books, and Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research.
Current State of the Project
The project is currently at an advanced stage of research and material gathering. Over the past few years, we have carried out an extensive fieldwork process in Palestine and Chile, conducting interviews, observational recordings, and compiling a substantial body of family, historical, and audiovisual archives. Throughout this process, we have built strong relationships with the people featured in the film, as well as with the places where the story unfolds, allowing us to establish meaningful access and the committed participation of its protagonists. This stage has enabled us to define the main thematic and narrative threads that shape the project. We are currently focused on writing a first draft of the script, which will allow us to give the collected materials a cinematic structure. The main challenge at this stage is to coherently bring together the project’s different formal layers; archive, documentary observation, and fiction, while maintaining a clear, consistent, and organic cinematic vision. Following this initial writing phase, we plan to begin a second period of development focused on script consultations, writing residencies, and additional research trips between Chile and Palestine. The aim will be to further develop the project’s narrative and creative approach, moving towards a final version of the script and a comprehensive production strategy. To date, the project has participated in a two-month residency at Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research in Palestine, and has received development funding from the Doha Film Institute’s Development Fund and Mondriaan Fund.
Needs / Objectives
The project’s main needs are focused on script development and the consolidation of an international production strategy. At this stage, we are seeking access to specialized script consultations that will allow us to further develop the film’s narrative structure and find an organic balance between its documentary, fictional, and archival dimensions. We also consider it essential to take part in writing residencies that provide dedicated time for creative work and opportunities for critical exchange, helping to strengthen the project from both an artistic and narrative perspective. Alongside this, we need to move forward with the preparation of the future production by identifying the technical, logistical, and financial challenges involved in filming between Chile and Palestine. Given the current audiovisual funding landscape in Chile, developing co-production partnerships and gaining access to international funding sources are key priorities in ensuring the project’s viability. In this regard, we are particularly interested in establishing connections with Spain, building on the existing international co-production agreements between the two countries, as well as the funding and collaboration opportunities offered by the Ibero-American audiovisual sector. This possibility is further strengthened by Andrés’s background, having received professional training and worked in the audiovisual industry in Spain, where he has developed connections and gained experience that can contribute to the development of a future Spanish-Chilean co-production.
