Hallwalls is pleased to present Leave The Door Open a feature film by filmmaker and interdisciplinary media artist, Lewuga Benson. A slow-burning drama marked by long takes and restrained, immersive visuals, Leave The Door Open unfolds in the space between memory, refusal, and endurance. Benson describes it as "...exploring what happens when we fail to accept that sometimes we may need to leave the door closed on what life throws at us." Lewuga will be here in person to present his film.

Starring Alicia Dellaria (Katie), Chris Romano (Matt), Madisen Zabawa (Melanie), and Alexander McBryde (Stranger).

Artist Bio

Lewuga Benson is an interdisciplinary media artist and filmmaker whose work explores the intersections of memory, environmental trauma, cultural identity, and the mediated body. Rooted in his Ogoni heritage in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, Benson's practice examines how landscapes, histories, and personal narratives are transformed — and sometimes distorted — through the technologies we use to witness them. Working across moving-image installation, sound, performance, and sculptural media, he creates immersive environments that invite viewers to inhabit the emotional and political tensions embedded in overlooked or vulnerable communities.

Benson holds an MFA in Media Arts Production from the University at Buffalo, where he developed a hybrid practice grounded in experimental filmmaking, immersive installation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration ...

Lingua Franca (2020) NR
Runtime: 1h 35m
Directed by: Isabel Sandoval
Starring: Isabel Sandoval, Eamon Farren, Lynn Cohen

Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation, works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in New York. When the man she's secretly paying for a green card marriage backs out, she becomes involved with a slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she's a trans woman.

Trans Film / Trans Space is an ongoing, community focused screening series highlighting trans cinema. Our programming is temporally promiscuous and genre-expansive, inclusive of contemporary and repertory film and video art across a variety of forms and perspectives. You can expect to see narrative features, documentaries, experimental shorts, hybrid works, and otherwise unclassifiable cinematic objects as part of the series.

The goal of Trans Film / Trans Space is not merely to create an environment for passive viewing, but to foster a space for conversation and communal engagement with trans film, i.e., to create a trans space at the cinema. Screenings will include post-film discussions and other expanded programming that supports this goal.