2026 Backyard Docs Film Festival: Backyard Docs Shorts
Join us for Backyard Docs 2026 Short Film Program! This collection of short films takes audiences from the cold hallways of New York City’s immigration court, a butterfly sanctuary in Chicago, back home to the streets of Pittsburgh, and beyond. These films cover complex histories, stories of speaking truth to power, and journeys to discovering something deeper about life and self. After the screening, we will be joined by filmmakers from most of the films for an audience Q&A.
Big Bass
Born Secret
Water Cooler
The Trump administration has turned immigration courts into deportation traps. As ICE agents wait to arrest their targets outside of courtrooms, their banal conversations clash with the severity of their actions. This documentary short — filmed in New York’s Federal Plaza from November 2025 through January 2026 — captures the virulent callousness of ICE agents detaining migrants who are trying to stay in the country legally.
Hilda O. vs. The State of New York
At 15 years old, Hilda Onley was sexually abused at the NY State Training School for Girls, where she was incarcerated in 1958. Hilda has lived for over 65 years, haunted and traumatized by the abuse she had faced with an impenetrable statute of limitations until NY’s Child Victims Act was passed in 2019. Her case against the state began with limited time on the clock. This is the story of 82-year-old Hilda’s fight for justice.
Sueños de una Monarca
After transforming her Chicago home into a monarch sanctuary, Mexican immigrant, environmental activist, and mother, Claudia Galeno-Sánchez is on a mission to save the monarch butterfly—a vital symbol for her family and millions of others across North America.
Chad Chechak: Lantern Fly Hero
Chad Chechak, a man with bitter feelings towards the invasive lantern fly species, shares his philosophies as he exercises an unorthodox approach.
Saturday, Sept. 26th, 4:00 PM @ The Harris Theater
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Backyard Docs Film Festival is our annual celebration of non-fiction cinema that explores our region’s Rust Belt and Appalachian identity.
We showcase documentary films and filmmakers who are directly connected to our region or have a shared connection with our region’s identity and culture. Formerly known as The Rust Belt & Appalachia Documentary Film Festival, the Backyard Docs Film Festival continues its trademark DIY screening style, holding screenings in unconventional locations such as repurposed factories, dive bars, and backyards. However, this year, we are expanding the festival to include traditional theater venues for some of our more well-attended screenings. The four-day event will also showcase a photography exhibition, private rough-cut feedback sessions, workshops with world-renowned filmmakers, and, of course, great afterparties. It’s the one time of the year when filmmakers, journalists, and artists of all stripes can come together and create new connections while helping redefine the story of the Rust Belt and Appalachia.