Trespass America Project
TRESPASS: Propelling the Unhoused into our Hearts and Consciousness
TRESPASS: West Coast Premiere at the Pan African Film Festival
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
Los Angeles, CA, US
TRESPASS West Coast Premiere
This campaign is dedicated to funding the West Coast Premiere of the documentary TRESPASS at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF)—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.
About the Artist
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.
Our Accomplishments:
- First Place, The BookFest Awards 2025
Nonfiction – Society & Social Sciences: Human Rights & Political Movements - Recipient, The deGroot Foundation 2025 – Director’s Grant
- Recipient, The deGroot Foundation 2024 – Writer of Note Grant
- Finalist, The deGroot Foundation 2024 – Courage to Write Grant
- Nearly 5,000 meals prepared and distributed to unhoused individuals
- Multiple solo exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, and Oakland
- Public book signings, speaking engagements and talks fostering dialogue and awareness
- Publication of TRESPASS: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding (2024)
- Appearance at the 2025 Teaneck International Film Festival and Seoul International Film Festival
Why Your Support Matters
Your contribution directly supports the West Coast Premiere of TRESPASS at the Pan African Film Festival, ensuring the film is presented with the care, visibility, and community engagement this moment deserves.
Your contribution directly supports the West Coast Premiere of TRESPASS at the Pan African Film Festival, ensuring the film is presented with the care, visibility, and community engagement this moment deserves.
Support helps fund:
- The official PAFF screening and premiere events
- An artist talk following screening, with subjects and crew.
- A separate moderated panel discussion featuring experts in housing policy, harm reduction, mental health and wellness, and the arts as agents of social change.
- A discussion guide for educators, universities, and institutions using the documentary as a teaching tool
- A private, curated exhibition and artist talk for TRESPASS donors and funders
This premiere and its additional activities are not simply a screening; they are a funder-aligned initiative leveraging culture, conversation, and action to advance social change.
It is a convening of artists, advocates, policymakers, community stakeholders, including the unhoused themselves, around one of the most urgent humanitarian crises of our time.
It is a convening of artists, advocates, policymakers, community stakeholders, including the unhoused themselves, around one of the most urgent humanitarian crises of our time.
Help Us Make a Difference
By supporting the TRESPASS West Coast Premiere at PAFF, you are helping bring an essential story to one of the most influential cultural stages in the country. Your generosity ensures that TRESPASS' storytelling and engagement with community, spark real dialogue and action.
Whether through a one-time donation or ongoing support, you are investing in art that challenges perception, deepens understanding, and calls us to act.
Donate today and be part of the solution.
#TrespassAmericaProject #TRESPASSDocumentary #PAFF #ArtAsACatalystForChange #EndHomelessness #SeeFeelAct #SupportTheUnhoused
Rewards
Community Supporter
Donate $100.00 or more
Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.
$100+ donors receive a signed copy of TRESPASS: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love and Understanding (Broadleaf Books). Through the lens and words of Kim Watson, this award-winning book honors the resilience, dignity, and humanity of the unhoused.
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Patron
Donate $500.00 or more
Amount over $25.00 is tax-deductible.
$500+ Donors receive a signed, archival photographic print from TRESPASS, created to museum standards and drawn from the acclaimed body of work exhibited and screened nationally.
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Premiere Circle
Donate $1,000.00 or more
Amount over $50.00 is tax-deductible.
Donors, foundations, and corporate partners receive a signed, limited-edition archival photographic print and an invitation to a private curated exhibition and artist talk-back with filmmaker Kim Watson.
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