From Uruguay to West Virginia, Expanding Sanctuary has been traveling far and wide! ✈️🎥
We are so moved by the impact it continues to have: from our Pittsburgh premiere with Backyard Docs, to powerful campus screenings with Penn for Immigrant Rights, and the Revolutions Film Series at Lafayette College, each stop has been a reminder of what’s possible when communities come together through film.
We’re deeply grateful to every organizer, student, educator, and audience member who has held space for these conversations and helped this film live far beyond the screen. This is what impact looks like! ✊🏽
Interested in hosting a screening? Contact us at [email protected]
🎬 Edited by @charliescreens
ROLL CALL 📣
2025 has been such an incredible year, we just want to recap the amazing festivals Talking Walls has been fortunate to be a part of, and the accolades and warmth the film has received. Shout out to the production and creative team, Raishad Momar (@ifabami.o ) Asadullah Saed (@asadullahsaed ) and Marcellus (@marcy.merci.marcellus ) as well as: @rowhomeproductions on the sound design
@lucky__gremlin on the animation
@preston_ct on the films titling and
@ianschobel on color correction
Thanks to @adodinational for the trust in recording some of the oral histories featured and the many participants that welcomed me in their home, Alfred, Craig, Gary, Karen and more. Yall da best!
Our resident film reviewer (though we always welcome more) @morehumanthaninhuman went to see the last @backyarddocs screening of the season, a multilayered look at the city of Tripoli, Lebanon.
“The highlights of Raed Rafei’s s film include its exploration of everyday homophobia. Rafei speaks to a gym manager, an all-male discussion circle, and a pair of women talking about (implicitly heteronormative) love. When Rafei brings up male-male relationships, the topic is met with shock, disgust, and even philosophical rationalization for homophobia. What is telling, however, is that Rafei can bring these themes up, and the pushback he is met with is societal in nature, not legal. This extends further to Rafei’s interview with a drag queen living in Tripoli, an individual who maintains a positive relationship with their family and general freedom of expression despite societal pushback.
What western viewers will get out of this, hopefully, is an understanding that while homophobia does exist in the Middle East, it often takes on familiar forms not uncommon in conservative American communities. Westerners who decry Middle Eastern homophobia as unique might, in fact, find it recognizable. Much like in conservative American communities, there are individuals, such as drag performers or queer activists, who push back or ask uncomfortable questions about queer visibility, liberation, and rights. This is decidedly the most pointed and interesting aspect of Raed Rafei’s film.”
Read the rest at petrichorpittsburgh.com✨
Amish Country Queer & the city of steel. Thank you @backyarddocs for the wonderful experience - hope to see you next year (if I wasn’t banned for saying “Go Birds” too much) 😘🎉🎬
#documentary #queerjoy #pride #indiefilm #queerstories #lgbtq #drag #filmfestival #minivlog
Pittsburgh!
"Death: The Life of Mike Egan will be playing tomorrow at @backyarddocs ! 3:30pm at The Melwood Screening Room.
Thanks for having us, Backyard Docs! 💀🙌
We’re proud to sponsor the @backyarddocs film festival again!!
The festival will run from September 25 to 28 in venues across Pittsburgh, opening with the Pittsburgh premiere of American Pastoral, a documentary about ideological conflict in a rural Pennsylvania public school, and closing with the U.S. premiere of the artful documentary about identity and queerness in the Arab world, “Tripoli / A Tale of Three Cities.”
This fest celebrates nonfiction cinema made in or relevant to communities in the Rust Belt and Appalachian regions, featuring 11 short films, three feature films, three workshops, and after-parties.
Don’t wait for Reel Q for your film fix, this weekend, dive into the 2025 @backyarddocs celebrating non-fiction cinema from the Rust Belt and Appalachia, including 11 shorts, five works-in-progress, three features (one a US premiere!), and some fantastic LGBTQ stories to boot. Tickets at their bio
Mail Myself to You will be screening at the 2025 Backyard Docs Film Festival this Friday, 9/26 at 6pm in Pittsburgh! I will also be on the panel of Saturday’s “Animating the Documentary” workshop. Visit backyarddocs.com for more schedule info :)
The 2025 Backyard Docs Film Festival is right around the corner, and we couldn’t be more excited to gather for films, conversation and community.
Each year, Backyard Docs celebrates nonfiction cinema that explores Appalachian and Rust Belt identity. It showcases films and filmmakers directly connected to our region, or those whose work shares in our stories and culture.
This year’s festival is slated for Sept. 25-28 in Pittsburgh. It features 11 shorts, five works-in-progress, and three features, including a U.S. premiere!
As sponsors of this year’s festival, we’re proud not only to support the full slate of films but also to share our own short, “Hell or High Water,” on screen with you all.
See you there! Tickets are available now at backyarddocs.com
✨ Excited to share that I’ll be joining the panel “Creating in Our Backyard: Nonfiction Production Roundtable” at Backyard Docs in Pittsburgh, PA!
Taking place on Saturday, September 27th at 2PM at the Melwood Screening Room, this gathering brings together incredible nonfiction filmmakers, visual journalists, and storytellers from across the Rust Belt and Appalachian regions to talk about how place shapes our work, the challenges and opportunities of regional production, and strategies for building sustainable creative careers outside major media hubs.
I’ll be in conversation with Hansen Bursic, Colleen C Brady, Steph Strasburg, Alexis Johnson, Nick Childers, and more 🌟
🎬 Join us for an inspiring exchange rooted in community and storytelling close to home. Get your 🎟️ in the 🔗 in bio.
📸 Photo from 2024 Cleveland International Film Festival
We are so thrilled to partner with Backyard Docs and Carnegie Mellon University Humanities Center to screen Raed El Rafei's feature debut documentary TRIPOLI/A TALE OF THREE CITIES. As a queer artist returning to his home town, Rafei speaks to the city's inhabitants about their cultural and social beliefs and their embrace of new ideas. This contemplative urban symphony paints a picture of a city trapped in a self-spun web, paralyzed by a deep economic crisis, a faltering revolution, and a looming doomsday. We will be talking with Rafei after the film! For more info, scan the QR code or go to our website, www.screenshot.pitt.edu
