Distant Relatives

1,200 Km. 15 days. 5 countries. 2 bicycles. 1 film about culture, exploration, and relations.

We’re on a journey to change how we see the world, and we want you to be part of it!

We are defined by our nationalities, race, religions, colour, gender, sexuality.These are labels given to us. We learn to live by them and apply them to the world around us. Looking beyond these labels, boundaries and barriers - that’s where the magic lies. Beyond these labels, we are all human. Humans encompassing all the diversity we choose to be - passionate, dreamers, adventurers, powerful and expressive. All unique in our own way, yet connected through the values that drive us. As wide and far we have spread, we all have roots that connect, roots that we originated from and roots that takes us back to show that we are all distant relatives.

To share this understanding with the communities around us, we are embarking on a journey to find ties that connect and build a deeper understanding of how we are all distant relatives.

Azubuike Akunne is a first generation Nigerian born and raised in the United States. Currently living in Chicago Illinois where he owns and operates Neu Bite a food company aimed at providing healthy meals to Chicago’s food desert. Azubuike has a passion for cycling and has cycled over 2000km in two months. Most notably his 800 mile trek from Chicago to Washington D.C, as part of a peace trek in solidarity with The Million Man March. Truly believing that he is a citizen of the world, Azubuike has recently travelled to six countries in under a year and speaks three languages, two acquired while completing his undergraduate and graduate programs.

Alifiya Mutaher is from Sri Lanka, of Indian descent. She has a background in mechanical engineering, and is the founder of Colombo Design Market, Sri Lanka’s first community that supports creatives across disciplines to connect, sell and showcase their work to the wider community. Exploring fields of creativity, self-expression and technology, she works towards combining these interests to find balance and harmony in the world around her. Having lived in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Australia, looking beyond the stereotypes and labels put on people, and looking for the human-ness in us all is how she navigates the world.