Happy Pride Month from Reel Q and City of Asylum! This month’s screening features eight short films that comprise “No Pride in Genocide,” a global film event from Queer Cinema for Palestine (QCP). QCP 2025 features more than 100 screenings in over 30 countries worldwide, from China to Ecuador, of a collectively curated stellar short film program throughout June 2025. The eight-film feature includes a screening of the short I never promised you a Jasmine Garden (Teyama AlKamli, Canada, 2023). The film follows Tara, a queer Palestinian woman in her late 20s, as she attempts to suppress her internal emotional turbulence during a phone call with her best friend, Sarab, with whom she is in love.
The QCP 2025 program focuses on the work of queer, Palestinian, and allied artists. The work spans locales, including historic Palestine and the diaspora. It encompasses a range of identities, lengths, styles, and genres (documentary-hybrid, experimental, fiction, and animation) to highlight art’s position in resistance and the struggle for liberation.
Reel Q is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ film festivals in the world. Starting in 1985, Reel Q’s mission has been to increase the availability and accessibility of queer film in Pittsburgh and its surrounding region, highlighting the diverse experiences of our worldwide community.
For the better part of a decade, City of Asylum has been partnering with Reel Q to bring unique, international queer films to audiences for free in a series known as “Reel Stories.” From dramas to documentaries to playful rom-coms, we are honored and delighted to serve as a platform for these beautiful works to reach new audiences.
Mark your calendars! The next Reel Q screening at Alphabet City will take place on November 11, 2025.
About Your Visit:
The in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto, is open for drinks only from 5 to 9 p.m.
Reminder: Reel Q screenings now take place upstairs by the main stage, rather than downstairs in the word cellar.
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