Unsettled
An influx of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers are caught between an unsettling past and an uncertain future as they seek safer lives in the United States.
Every refugee or asylum seeker has a story to tell. Unsettled brings to life the names, faces, and tumultuous backstories of LGBTQ individuals forced to flee intense persecution in their home countries. Landing in San Francisco and girded with new hope, their challenges begin to multiply: finding new homes, new jobs, and new identities in the country’s most cost-prohibitive region forces these new immigrants to dig deep just in order to survive.
Having escaped Islamic terrorist death threats in Syria, beatings by a homophobic father, and a nation devastated by war, Subhi finds his voice as a leader for refugee rights in the U.S. Lesbian couple Cheyenne and Mari flee brutal harassment in their native Angola to face uncertain asylum through the American immigration courts while pursuing their dreams of becoming musicians. Junior, a gender non-conforming gay man from the Congo, struggles to create a livelihood and secure basic housing while exploring a more fluid gender identity. Their multilayered, untold, international stories are uniquely personal and uncover the high cost of escaping persecution.