COURAGE to WRITE Writer of Note Kim Watson’s documentary, TRESPASS, makes its West Coast Premiere at the Pan African Film Festival, bringing intimate, art-driven storytelling revealing the lives of Los Angeles’ unhoused with dignity, beauty and understanding
The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is the largest and most prestigious African American film festival in the United States, and a globally respected platform for socially conscious cinema. Since 2019, driven by the passions of Kim Watson, Trespass has used storytelling and art to bring visibility and awareness to the unseen realities of homelessness. Through photography, film, written narrative, and deep community engagement, the project challenges stereotypes, fosters empathy, and invites audiences to see unhoused individuals with dignity, complexity, and humanity. Watson crafts poetry through word and image, drawing inspiration from those living in alleyways and shadows of our community. PAFF’s selection of the TRESPASS documentary represents a major milestone—positioning the film within a festival renowned for elevating Black voices, social justice narratives, and work that advances cultural understanding and change.
Kim Watson is an award-winning filmmaker, artist, and author whose work centers on social justice and human dignity. Over the past five years, Watson has been deeply embedded within Los Angeles’ unhoused communities—photographing, filming, writing, and building long-term relationships grounded in trust and respect.
This sustained commitment has resulted in powerful public exhibitions, thousands of meals distributed directly to unhoused individuals, national recognition, and the publication of TRESPASS: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding (Broadleaf Books, 2024). The documentary TRESPASS is the next evolution of this work—bringing lived experience, art, and advocacy to the screen for a wider public.