If you’ve ever been asked the question “where are you from?”, then this film is for you. Hyphen is a documentary that pairs the beloved road movie with poignant conversations about race, culture, and identity with 22 people who live at the intersection of several realities. Join filmmaker Gabriela Warrior Renaud on an epic cross-country journey where you’ll be left questioning your concept of what Canada really is and who gets to call this country home.

In the summer of 2016, filmmaker Gabriela Warrior Renaud drove across Canada. Along the way, she shared conversations about race, culture, and identity with people who, like her, live at the intersection of several realities. Hyphen is the collection of intimate stories and experiences of 22 mixed-race Canadians.

This one-hour documentary film envelops the viewers in an immersive piece that paints a new portrait of Canada, one that reflects the fluidity of our identities and questions our concepts of "Canada". As Canadians, we hold "multiculturalism" as a pillar of our communal identity, Hyphen engages in critical discussions about how this diversity is being experienced, especially through the lens of Indigenous Peoples, Black peoples, and other people of colour. Hyphen creates a space for mixed-race folks to tell our own stories, with all their nuances and contradictions. As a film, Hyphen plays with form by using audio from interviews to weave the narrative of the documentary, combining these with footage of intimate and everyday moments, along with sweeping shots of an epic cross-country journey. Hyphen creates a timeless and captivating film that will stay with audiences well after they leave the cinema.

Hyphen was completed in the fall of 2023, and is now in the process of being submitted to festivals across Canada and internationally. You can learn more about Hyphen and support the film here.