What Are You?

'What Are You?' is a short documentary that explores the lives of multiracial people as they reveal the struggles of living in a racially divided world.

  • Richard B. Pierre
    Director
  • Richard B. Pierre
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 14, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    6,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED, Sony FS7
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • African Diaspora International Film Festival
    Washington, DC
    United States
    August 11, 2019
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Twin Cities Black Film Festival
    Minneapolis, Minnesota
    United States
    October 20, 2019
    Official Selection
  • St. Louis International Film Festival
    St. Louis, Missouri
    United States
    November 13, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Africa International Film Festival
    Tinapa
    Nigeria
    November 13, 2019
    African Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Los Angeles CineFest 2020
    Los Angeles
    United States
    January 12, 2020
    Third Place Winner
  • Toronto Short Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    Official Selection
  • National Black Film Festival 2020
    Houston, Texas
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Yorkton Film Festival 2020
    Yorkton, Saskatchewan
    Canada
    Canadian Premiere
    Golden Sheaf Award Documentary Social/Political Nominee
  • San Francisco Black Film Festival 2020
    San Francisco, California
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival

    Trinidad and Tobago
    September 15, 2020
    Caribbean Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Rapport Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    September 19, 2020
    UK Premiere
    official selection
  • Lunenburg Doc Fest
    Lunenburg
    Canada
    September 25, 2020
    official selection
  • Culture & Diversity Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    October 4, 2020
    InkTip Prize & Best Recorded Sound
  • CineOdyssey Film Festival
    Charlotte
    United States
    November 5, 2020
    Official Selection
  • TIDE Film Festival
    New York City
    United States
    November 6, 2020
    New York Premiere
    Official Selection
  • NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival
    Edmonton
    Canada
    November 11, 2020
    Alberta Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Richard B. Pierre

Richard B. Pierre is a multiracial filmmaker who has written and directed over a dozen short films that have screened in festivals worldwide. Richard's goal is to tell stories that depict the lives of diverse individuals and their cultures while making films that are deeply personal. Richard’s first feature length screenplay 'Crooked' was selected as a quarter-finalist for the 2009 Nicholl Fellowship.
In 2011 he received the Emerging Filmmaker at the Toronto Urban Film Festival. His first dramatic 35 mm short film ‘The Toboggan,’ funded by the Ontario Arts Council, premiered at the 2011 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. In 2012 his first interactive short film ‘Far From The Heart’ was nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award and he was named a ReelWorld Film Festival 2012 Emerging 20 Filmmaker. He received the 2015 Curtíssima Award for Best Short Under Five Minutes for his film ’The Toboggan.’

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Director 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 the more 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.