‘Been Here Stay Here’ Showing

After premiering to critical acclaim at IDFA in Amsterdam and selling out screenings at major U.S. festivals, Been Here Stay Here—a quietly powerful, observational documentary about life on Tangier Island—is returning home for a special theatrical release across the Chesapeake Bay region.

This isn’t just another documentary screening. It’s an extraordinary homecoming for a film that honors the cultural heritage, history, and enduring spirit of a place known to many but deeply understood by few.

Throughout August, and September, theaters across VA, MD, & DE will host theatrical runs and/or screenings of the film, offering local audiences a rare chance to see their own region reflected on the big screen. Following a sold-out run at the Roseland Theatre in Onancock, Virginia (which extended due to demand) and select screening events across VA/MD, interest has surged among communities eager to bring the film to their own towns.

“This is the kind of film we almost never see anymore,” says director David Usui, co-director of In Transit with the late Albert Maysles. “No stats, no interviews, no voiceover. Just life, unfolding.”

Filmed with quiet patience and emotional honesty, Been Here Stay Here captures the everyday rituals of Tangier Island—crabbing, Sunday worship, family meals, funerals—not as spectacle, but as living testament. It is not a film about politics. It’s a film about presence, faith, and the meaning of home.

At a time when so much media flattens local stories into national talking points, Been Here Stay Here resists that pull. Tangier Island is often pointed to as a symbol, but this film refuses to reduce it. Instead, it offers viewers a window into a real place with real people: watermen, churchgoers, and families who’ve endured for generations.

This is more than a film. It’s a rare document of place, shot over several years with care and humility—crafted for the very communities that shaped it.

For arts reporters, regional editors, and cultural critics, this is a chance to cover something truly special: a film that is both nationally relevant and deeply local. A film that honors the Chesapeake Bay not in passing, but in full.

Don’t miss this opportunity to cover a story that matters here—because it was made here.