What Are You?

In this revealing documentary, eleven people with a range of backgrounds discuss what it is like being of mixed racial heritage within the context of North America. Each of the participants presents their unique outlook on growing up mixed and the challenges they've faced in their lives.

No two experiences are identical when speaking about their journey of how each person came to perceive themselves. Many speak of the difference between how they saw themselves versus how the world at large treated them. There are several instances of being "othered" by friends and relatives alike or how seeds of doubt were planted at childhood to disrupt their own sense of self. The interviewees voice unique concerns about acceptance, culture, and society and how even their own self-identification undergoes shifts.

What Are You shows how a seemingly simple question comes with a rather complex answer.

INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE EXTENDED INTERVIEWS

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "For years I've been asked the strange, confrontational question: 'What are you?' The question concerns my racial identity, and it unsettles me because I don't have an exact answer and because I simultaneously don't believe it matters. But it's also a question that th emore it is asked, the more it seems to matter. 'What Are You' is a short personal documentary that uses interviews to explore the lives of multiracial people (myself included) as they reveal the struggles and challenges of being of mixed racial heritage in Canada.

'What are you?' is a question I've been asked too many times to count. I think mostly it's a question that is asked out of pure curiosity without an agenda, but it immediately makes me feel as if I am some strange otherworldly oddity. It's something I've struggled with for years, and I hope this film helps other mixed people who are wrestling with that same aggravating question."

-Richard B. Pierre

Preview link available upon request. Contact support@videoproject for more information

Documentary Film - Video Project - What Are You?

A Film by Richard B. Pierre

20 minutes and Special Features

Scene Selection • Closed Captioned

Grades 6 - Adult

Item #: WRU-1164

A group of Canadians reveal the struggles and challenges of being mixed-race.

Starting at $79

Licensing Options

K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD - $79 K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD + Digital File - $129 Colleges, Institutions, Businesses: DVD - $199 Colleges: DVD with Digital Site License - $299 K-12 School District pricing available. Please inquire at [email protected]

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Reviews and Festivals

"Many students will identify with the discomfort of feeling 'other', or having to be a type, rather than an individual. This film is also a good reminder (or conversation-starter) on respectful language and conversation."

— School Library Journal

"This is a moving meditation on a subject sure to have resonance for a wide audience. Recommended."
— Video Librarian

"Family photos add visuals to their poignant words. This thought-provoking program is a plea for kindness, understanding, and acceptance that is needed in this growing demographic. Teens will identify with these questions of identity."

— Booklist

"I recommend this film for middle school to adult audiences with an emphasis to discuss diversity as well as ethnic and gender studies, and sociology."
— Educational Media Reviews Online

NOMINATED

Yorkton Film Festival, Golden Sheaf Award

WINNER

Culture & Diversity Film Festival, InkTip Prize and Best Recorded Sound

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Yorktown Film Festival

National Black Film Festival

San Francisco Black Film Festival

Toronto Short Film Festival

St. Louis International Film Festival

Africa International Film Festival

Twin Cities Black Film Festival

African Diaspora International Film Festival

Los Angeles CineFest

Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival

Rapport Festival

Lunenburg Doc Fest

Culture & Diversity Film Festival

CineOdyssey Film Festival

TIDE Film Festival

NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival

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