Raed El Rafei

Raed El Rafei is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of English (Dietrich School). A scholar, filmmaker, and multimedia journalist, his work focuses on queer cinema across the Arab region and its diasporas. He holds a PhD in Film and Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz and an MA in Journalism from CUNY. His films, including 74, Here I am ... Here you are, and Al-Atlal, have screened at venues like the Centre Pompidou and IDFA. Current projects include Tripoli / A Tale of Three Cities, premiering at IDFA 2024.

• Education: PhD (UC Santa Cruz), MA (CUNY), BA (not specified)
• Awards: Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Fellowship, UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoc

Research explores intersections of queer theory, diasporic film, and global south cinema. His 2024 book chapter Queer Revolution and the Reawakening of the Belly Dancer reframes belly dance as a site of queer resistance. Film projects blend documentary and experimental forms to interrogate identity, memory, and exile.

Awards include an Onion City Festival honorable mention for Al-Atlal (2022). His Mellon-funded research bridges journalism and academia, with essays in e-flux, Mizna, and Visible Evidence.

Current roles include directing the Tripoli documentary (premiering IDFA 2024), teaching film theory/production, and maintaining a research lab focused on queer diasporic media practices.