About The Lab

Raah is a media research lab based in the Film and Moving Image Studies Department at Concordia. It aims to examine the intersection of migratory processes and media practices. Taking our cue from the evocations offered by the Persian word raah – which can mean ways or passage, and its underlying resonances of fellow-traveler, or companion, Raah aims to investigate the many methodological pathways open to researchers in migration and media studies.

Raah's project is a community-driven model, which hopes to bring together scholars, activists and community partners in a single space, becoming the first institutional hub in Canada for the study of media and migration. Raah aims to host both theoretical and practice-based research, as well as community-facing projects, in order to investigate the questions of immigration, hospitality, marginalization and their mediatized forms.

The development of the Raah Lab website infrastructure was made possible through support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

• Unwelcomed (2025) Premiere & Discussion

  upcoming: Monday, Nov 17 We are co-presenting the Montréal premiere of Unwelcomed (2025), followed by a discussion with director Sebastián González Mendez & Amílcar Infante, alongside Cinema Politica and Solidarité sans frontières. As the world witnesses the rise of anti-immigrant and fascist rhetoric, Unwelcomed offers a cinematic portrayal of the social and political tensions that […]

  2025-11-12
• In A Displaced World #2: Per Un Figlio

  Screening Series: In a Displaced World A film series highlighting cinematic engagements with forced displacement, border regimes, and the political economies of migration. The films move beyond humanitarian lenses to reframe the so-called migration “crisis.” EV 1.615 | November 14, 2025 | 3:30 PM   Screening 2 – Per Un Figlio (2016) Sunita, a middle-aged […]

  2025-11-06
• Casey Mecija: Sounds that Mark Our Words

  Dr. Casey Mecija proposes a theory of “queer sound” that treats sonicity as a conceptual and affective resource for understanding the psychic and emotional lives of diasporic communities, with particular attention to the Filipinx diaspora. She demonstrates how the queer valences of sound invite us to attune to forms of Asian diasporic resistance and intimacy […]

  2025-10-28
• Palestine Cinema Days: Around the World 2025

    On Nov. 2nd, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, more than 500 Palestinian films will be screened around the world as part of Palestine Cinema Days Around the World, initiated by Film Lab Palestine. This global effort is a show of solidarity with Palestine, an act aimed at amplifying censored Palestinian voices and correcting a […]

  2025-10-28