<div><strong><em>You Are Welcome Here and There </em></strong>
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<div>Ekaabo (welcome)! We, Oreoluwa Ifasola Sangosemilore Akinyode (Director) and Destiny Egbeyemi Hodges (Producer) are proud to announce the creation of our new film <em>You Are Welcome Here and There</em>. This is a feature-length experimental documentary film following one spiritual family's journey to Nigeria as they recover the history and destiny that colonialism tried to erase. <em>You Are Welcome Here and There</em> is a moving ritual that travels through spirit realms and dimensions, illuminating the renaissance of Black Queer Peoples' return to African Traditional Religions.
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<div><strong>Funding Will Support: </strong>
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<li>Round Trip Travel and Ground Transportation from the U.S. to Nigeria
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<li>Camera, Lighting, and Sound Equipment
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<li>Purchasing Super 8 and 16mm Film
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<li>Processing and Scanning Film Costs
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<li>Compensating Cast
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<li>Meals for Crew and Cast
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<li>General Production Costs
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<div><strong>MORE ABOUT THE FILM:</strong>
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<div>How we see and understand ourselves is led by the interconnectedness of self, culture, cosmology, ritual, and faith. All of these things are defined and experienced in the presence of community. Given the ongoing criminalization and demonization of Queer and Trans people within the Global Black/African Diaspora, there is an urgent need to illuminate not only the mere existence of Queer and Trans people within African Traditional Religions (ATRs) but the thriving of self through communal worship within these spaces.
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<div><em>You Are Welcome Here and There (YAWHT)</em> is a living prayer and ongoing ritual to usher in and solidify the necessary safety and reverence for Queer and Trans people within the Isese tradition and, emphatically, those it has birthed. Through these illuminations, individuals all over the world are reminded that the safety of Black Queer and Trans regardless of geography ensures the safety of us all.
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<div><strong>THEMES: </strong>
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<li>Queer and Trans practitioners within the Isese tradition
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<li>The Orisa and Gender Expression
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<li>Queer and Trans liberation
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<li>REMEMBRANCE\REVERENCE/MARRIED TO DESTINY
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<li>To be Welcomed + Belonging
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<li>Initiation/Ritual
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<li>Sankofa &amp; the Journey of Returning: Self, Lineage, Home
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<li>Queerness Across Borders (Global Black/African Diaspora)
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<li>Identity: Queer, Black, Nationality
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<div>Thank you for your support, time, and consideration and pray that as you continue to support us, Olodumare blesses you immensely!
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<div>Follow our film instagram @ <a href="https://www.instagram.com/welcomehereandthere" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WelcomeHereAndThere</a>
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<div>Image Credits: there is joy in remembrance, Oreoluwa Akinyode , 2022.
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Terry Stewart

Rowan Hollinshead

Nailah Hurley

Alexandra DiPalma

Lehna Huie

Marilyn Nance

Jessica Solomon

Dawn Konofaos

Ute Petit

LeAnn Scrimmager

Elizabeth Gonzalez

nybria acklin

Devan Cheaves

Ademola Abdulkadir

Ja'Tovia Gary

You Are Welcome Here and There Film Fund

You Are Welcome Here and There Film Fund

Still $10,995 to go. Help us build momentum.