We are the sum of all our parts. We are not just one or the other.  We are whoever we choose to be. We are mixed.

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 So, What Are You? Is a short documentary about the experiences of three mixed race individuals.
It shares significant moments they can recall in their life where they really felt or even realized for the first time that they were different.
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Behind The Scenes

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Meet The Team

Stephanie Nakashima 
Writer, Producer and Director
​Stephanie is in her third year of the Honours Bachelor of Film and Television program at Sheridan College. She is currently specializing in both directing and producing and has a true passion for making stories come to life through various forms of media. Being mixed race herself this story is something she is very passionate about and is extremely excited to get the chance to share with others.

Paula Ner Dormiendo- First Assistant Camera
Paula is an aspiring filmmaker currently studying at Sheridan College for directing and cinematography in their Film and Television Program. She hopes to one day write and direct more films such as Mixed: So What Are You? Which inspires social discourse and delves into important issues in society.

Erika Guerrero - Picture Editor 
Erika is a third-year Honours Bachelor of Film and Television student at Sheridan College. She specializes in Post Production, and from an early age, she knew her passions would lead her towards this stream. With self-taught experience in visual effects and motion graphics, she hopes to expand her skills to further explore other aspects of Post Production. 

Hailey Frizell- Producer 
Hailey is currently in her third year at Sheridan College. She is enrolled in the Honours Bachelor of Film and Television program and is specializing in Post Production and Producing. She has a passion for documentary film making and is very excited to get to work on such an important documentary.


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Bernice Chu - Location Sound Recordist, Sound Editor & Mixer
Bernice is a third year BFTV student specializing in Cinematography and Sound. Ever since picking up the camera and studying music at a young age, she knew the film and television industry was where those creative outlets could be found. She hopes to one day work within the camera department or location/post-production sound, creating impactful as well as fun content through what we see and hear.

Sumith Ragunathan- Director of Photography 
Sumi is in his 3rd year BFTV Program at sheridan and he is majoring in Cinematography and Sound. He mainly works on location and trains himself on the technical aspect of film. Sumi recently started peaking interest in Lighting and wishes to learn and experience more to better a story with lighting

Matthew X Williams - Boom Operator 
​ Matthew is currently in the BFTV program at Sheridan in his third year. His goals of becoming a feature film editor has led him down the path of not only picture editing, but also sound recording and design. He always strives to get the best possible story out of content and believes having a positive attitude is crucial to success in life.

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Our Inspiration 

​​The lives and struggles of mixed people have always interested the director Stephanie Nakashima as she is mixed herself. As Stephanie got older she began doing research on the topic to help her understand the cultural and societal difference in experiences mixed people face, that is when she realized she wanted to be able to give a platform for mixed people. 

 When she began coming up with the concept and idea for this documentary she read  Mixed Feelings which is a novel that is a collection of thoughts and experiences from Mixed people in short story style and poems. This is what made Stephanie realize she wanted to not only give a platform for Mixed people but for them to also share their personal stories.

While in the production phase of the documentary Stephanie got to go to hear Mixed Feelings be read by the Author Avan Jogia who is an advocate for biracial people. 
He explained that he started getting a  fascination with biracial culture and experiences in his life which drove him to reach out to other mixed people. When he began to talk to other people about the things he was feeling and experiencing they had similar thoughts and so he decided to make something that showcased these feelings. He originally started with a documentary but then ultimately decided a collection of stories and poems with illustrations was what he wanted to do. This is why when Stephanie got to meet him for a short period of time he gave her a lot of positive encouragement for the documentary she is creating.

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You can find Avan Jogia on social media platforms. Click the icons below to be brought to his pages. To find out more about his book visit http://www.avanjogia.com/writing/book/ .
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Special Thanks 

 
​The music in the film means so much to us as we were lucky enough to be given permission to use Pointless Aesthetic’s album Eleutheromania. The beautiful songs worked perfectly in our film and created such an emotional impact. We used two songs from the album including Atlas and Swollen Season. If you are interested in the band you can find them on their Instagram https://instagram.com/pointless_aesthetics_band?igshid=15tymk01zsxno
and you can listen to them on Spotify as well  https://open.spotify.com/album/5AVR1djDE36yF09zKq9kmB?si=erj1cEhiSvCDEHbc4b0jCg we as the crew highly recommend it and want to thank Pointless Aesthetic for allowing us to use their music.