"Baisanos" to Screen at Cairo’s Short Film Festival

The Chilean-Palestinian short film "Baisanos," a unique blend of diasporic and cultural camaraderie directed by filmmaker siblings Andrés and Francisca Khamis Giacoman, will screen at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival.

Following the Baisanos — the passionate fans of Club Deportivo Palestino, a Chilean first-division football team founded in 1920 — the film moves between two narrators who embody Chile and Palestine, reflecting on identity, the meaning of return, and the many ways of going back.

Set within a space of celebration and dreams, the bond between two distant territories emerges, weaving together past and future, homeland and diaspora, and opening a dialogue on community and resistance.

The film also explores how diasporas shape the places where they find a new home and, in turn, how they transform these environments. Through the baisanos' activities, football reveals itself as more than sport: It becomes a living symbol of shared heritage, belonging, and resilience. As their motto declares: “More than a team, a whole people.”

This celebratory short stars Lina Meruane, Muhammed Abdelnaim, and Khader Odeh. It is produced by Joaquín Echeverría, lensed by Lucas García, edited by Sebastián Salfate, with sound design by Claudio Carrasco. It is also distributed in the Arab World by MAD Distribution, with international sales handled by MAD World.

"Baisanos" has previously screened at the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, DOCS Mexico, Spain's Gijon International Film Festival, and Sweden’s Uppsala Short Film Festival, among many others.

Andrés and Francisca Khamis Giacoman are siblings born into the Palestinian diaspora in Chile. They are third-generation descendants of a family originally from Beit Jala (on their father’s side) and Bethlehem (on their mother’s side). Their work seeks to explore and portray the nuances of the Palestinian diaspora in Chile. "Baisanos" is their first film working together as directors.

The Cairo International Film Festival is set to run from November 12th to the 21st.