Asylum-Seekers’ Stories Come to The Freight in Berkeley

When East Bay Sanctuary Covenant was founded in 1982, the majority of the asylum seekers they served were fleeing U.S.-backed violence in Central America.

“The Reagan administration at the time was calling them economic refugees,” says Lisa Hoffman, co-executive director of the nonprofit. “[It] was not acknowledging the role that the U.S. government was playing in funding and supporting these death squads that were causing terror.”

EBSC knew otherwise, because from its earliest days, the organization was committed to listening to the stories of those fleeing that violence — not only to best meet their needs, but to broaden awareness and spur action in the larger public. It’s a tradition they’ve kept up for the past 43 years and across 4,100 successful asylum cases.

On Jan. 4, that deep listening and storytelling takes another form at Berkeley’s The Freight, with a screening of Shabnam Piryaei’s 27-minute documentary No Separate Survival, and a mini concert from Larry & Joe, a llanera-bluegrass fusion band based in North Carolina.

The event is a fundraiser, as well as an opportunity to learn more about EBSC’s work in a joyous, celebratory atmosphere. Previous screenings, Piryaei said, were more targeted towards asylum seekers and people working within refugee communities.

“This one feels the most like it’s speaking to people outside of the experience, people who want to know more about it,” she said of the event.

Piryaei’s film is the result of years of leading arts-based workshops in the Bay Area and at the U.S.-Mexico border. Participants told their stories through short videos, drawings and writing, to which Piryaei added poetic interludes, snippets of animation and the voices of advocates. The result is a dreamy, moving document of the desperate circumstances that drive people to flee their homes — and the lives they can freely lead once their safety is secured.

“Run for your life because you want to keep living,” said Irma, one of the film’s four narrators. It’s what she told herself after she was ostracized and physically attacked for her gender identity. In another scene, she flips the pages of a sketchbook to show her delicate drawings of various solitary figures: a girl among sunflowers, a woman in a chair.

When a narrator’s story in the film lacks narration, Piryaei dips into black-and-white archival film. The effect is illustrative, but never heavy-handed. If anything, these elements touch on just how long people have sought out better futures in this country, and risked their lives to do so.

While EBSC continues to provide free legal and social services to low-income immigrants, the Trump administration has increased its efforts to halt and dismantle the asylum process.

On Nov. 28, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of Homeland Security, paused all pending asylum cases. Being from one of 40 countries can now be a “significant negative factor” in an asylum case. And the administration has suggested it may also try to reverse previous grants of asylum — no matter where a person is from.

“We have a lot of people in the broader community who are becoming more aware of immigration issues and have a desire to learn more and to help out,” Hoffman said. Storytelling, and the Jan. 4 event in particular, she says, can be a meeting place and a starting point for those who want to lend a hand.

“I think it brings a lens of positivity in a moment where we’re just inundated by fear and terror,” she added. “We can come together in this joyful, uplifting space with music and stories. I feel like it is nourishment for our souls and we need that desperately now.”

‘No Separate Survival’ screens at The Freight (2020 Addison St., Berkeley) on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, with a performance by Larry & Joe. A pre-screening reception begins at 4:30 p.m. Director Shabnam Piryaei and the narrators will be present for a short Q&A on the making of the film.