Doha Film Institute
  • Log in
A Chilean filmmaker explores his mixed Palestinian-Jewish identity through hidden Super 8 family reels.
Rafael, a Chilean filmmaker with a Jewish father and a Palestinian mother, discovers more than forty Super 8 films and several Hebrew-Spanish translation notebooks after his grandmother’s death. This opens up an exploration of his father’s past, tracing the family’s migration from Chile to Israel in the 1970s. What begins as an inquiry into his paternal lineage soon expands to his mother’s side, a branch marked by the absence of images and archives. Confronted with this lack of references—or perhaps in search of answers—Rafael travels to Palestine, creating a new archive. Working almost exclusively with Super 8 footage, the film juxtaposes images, temporalities and family testimonies, creating a dreamlike narrative shaped by exile, resistance and memory. This emerging archive reveals the intertwined histories that shape both his personal story and a wider political reality.

Credits

Director
Rafael Guendelman Hales
Screenwriter
Rafael Guendelman Hales
Producer
Joaquín Echeverría
Production Company
Brisa

About the Director

Rafael Guendelman
Rafael Guendelman Hales is a visual artist and filmmaker. He graduated in Art from Universidad Católica and holds a master’s in Situated Practice from University College London. He has participated in the residencies ZK/U in Germany, Laznia in Poland and Contested Desires in Italy and the UK. He has exhibited his work in different spaces, including the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum, Museum of