01 Who Are You?

I am the space between you and me. I am the sand in one’s hands, which grasped too tightly falls to the ground. I am love, hate, and indifference. I am changing and evolving everyday: each hour, minute, and second. I am my experience, my present, and my future dreams. I am all of these things but not one of them. I am searching for the answer in each thought, action, and step. I will only find the answer through my ever-evolving quest.

02 What is your personal history? Where did you come from? What makes you, you?

I was born in Massachusetts and I have always dreamed to see the world. For most New Englanders, we don’t get around that much but I wanted to get on the road like Kerouac. When I was a young child, I had a mural in my bedroom. The mural was a photograph taken from the lunar surface looking back on the earth. I would often stare at the blue globe and wanted to understand it all. I have always been an observer but wanted to understand more. I also have always loved stories, myths, and legends. I graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University where I studied television and film production. At SU, I learned how to make and produce stories. After studying film, I have spent the last five years abroad: living, studying, working, and filming. I rode the Trans-Siberian Railway from China to Russia via Mongolia. I have filmed the opening of an Asian Art Museum in Albania. I have also followed the story and life of a relative and photographer who lived in Japan 50 years ago. I have just finished living one year on a small Japanese island of 900 people where I was the only non-Japanese. Now, I am as I have always been a seeker, storyteller, and filmmaker.

03 Why is the question of “Who Are You,” an important question to you, personally and for the world?

Everyday we see the distance growing between people, spiritually, socially, and spatially. We live in one world. The borders that we believe exist are only in our minds. We must search for the answer of "Who are you" because it is vital to our life and all lives. If we aren’t able to ask ourselves who we are, we will never be able to truly see our neighbors, friends, and strangers in one world. All of these questions are a vital first step to start to understand the oneness of the world.

Personally, this question has always been present in my mind but it has often been in other forms through searching about the world, through history, my own family, and all people that I meet.

For the world, we no longer have the comfort to be closed-minded and not ask this important question. We must pose it on the individual and global level. We are not just seen by our words and thoughts but also by our actions. By asking who-are-you, we come closer to finding out the sameness and difference in everything.

04 Why are you giving a part of your life to make this project?

I am giving part of my life to this project because I believe in the mission behind this film.

I have been seeking, searching, and filming to understand the world around us. While I was in Japan filming my own documentary production, I only happened to meet the producers of this film in their first country outside the U.S.

As soon as I heard about the film, I wanted to work and help them capture the images of this film with such a strong concept.

05 What do you think it means to the people around you, such as your family and friends? And what do you think it will mean to the people who will watch it?

For my family and friends, this project is a culmination of all the experiences, support, and care that I have received to seek out the truth for good or bad. My family and friends have always understood my passion to go after what I wanted and needed to tell through stories, films, or any medium.

For the people who will watch, I am just like everyone else. I want to understand the deeper meaning of life. A lot of people ask the question, what is the meaning of life? A great writer, Joseph Campbell, wrote that most people are not looking for the meaning of life but an experience of being alive. I think that this question is similar to our film production’s journey.

06 What does it mean to you to be involved with this project on a personal level?

Well if you want to get personal, I would say that it has a deep connection with my life right now. I have always looked for people, films, and books that inspire me. I feel on a personal level this is a way to share real people’s quests to understand a simple question, which takes us down the rabbit hole of all human experience. Everything we are involved in is personal when it gets beyond the mere ritual or habit of doing something. I want to connect with people who are searching as I am on a personal level.

07 What is this documentary about?

It is a simple quest. We are all looking for the answers in our lives. This film will speak for itself. It speaks through the voices of the world.

You will see and understand as each unfolding story, interview, quote opens it up to you. But it is most important to keep an open mind in this quest. There is no right or wrong only the truth.