Raed El Rafei

Raed El Rafei is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a PhD in Film and Digital Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and an MA in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY). His research focuses on queer cinema in the Arab region and its diasporas, blending academic scholarship with creative practice as a filmmaker and multimedia journalist.

His work has been supported by prestigious fellowships including the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2022). During 2023-2024, he is completing a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Davis, while on Professional Enhancement Leave from his faculty position. Rafei’s creative output includes award-winning documentaries such as 74 (The Reconstitution of a Struggle), Here I am ... Here you are, and Al-Atlal (The Ruins), screened at venues like the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Visions du Réel. His essays explore intersections of queer theory, cultural memory, and media practices, published in journals like e-flux and Visible Evidence.

Rafei’s academic writing includes contributions to edited volumes such as Pink Labor on Golden Streets: Queer Art Practices (2015) and an upcoming chapter in Gender, Sexuality, and Queerness in Contemporary Art from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Intellect Books, 2024). His journalism has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, CNN, and Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel, reflecting his commitment to bridging scholarly and public discourse.