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.