The patient labour of building ties in a city far from home

Migration can feel liberating and isolating at once: a new country offers openness and possibility, yet the sense of being an outsider rarely disappears fully. In the intimate short documentary Outside Center, the Lebanese Canadian filmmaker Eli Jean Tahchi follows Desmond Grant, a Jamaican immigrant in Munich, Germany, as he navigates such a transition. Grant discovers a more open and accepting society in his new country – especially as a member of the city’s LGBTQ+ inclusive rugby team, the Munich Monks. Simultaneously, the film captures the persistent challenge of trying to plant and grow new roots, including the loneliness that can accompany leaving friends, family and one’s culture behind. Throughout, Tahchi employs an observational and restrained style, with each new scene exploring the patient labour of building a home away from home and the courage it takes to open oneself to new bonds.