Even if you are from the same neighborhood as someone else, you might still be coming from different places. Where you are from is a complicated question and it elicits complicated, but interesting and thought-provoking responses. We’ve shared some of those responses below.

Tim Shechmeister | Filmmaker & Educator

I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area, and as someone obsessed with movies, it was an incredible place to grow up. There were multiple small art house theaters a short bike ride away from my home, including the Guild, the Park, the Aquarius, and the Palo Alto Square. I’m forever grateful that they gave me the opportunity to discover incredible indie movies, wonderful foreign films, and documentaries all on the big screen. Read more>>

Lake Fama | Story artist

I’m named “Lake” after the lake I grew up on – Lake Michigan, in Chicago. I grew up a very repressed queer kid struggling with distress around identity and gender that I didn’t have the words for yet, and the only place that eased some of the mental health struggles that came with all that was the lakeside. When I began my gender transition in adulthood, my wife suggested the name Lake in recognition for what Lake Michigan meant to me and how it kept me alive. Read more>>

Beth Ribeiro | Focus Puller

I am from Johannesburg, South Africa. I grew up in a middle-class suburb of Johannesburg close to much of my family and friends. I then moved to Cape Town to attend the University of Cape Town (UCT). UCT encouraged me to grow so deeply – I learnt so much, so quickly. I attended UCT at a time where a political movement was at its peak and this shaped me so deeply in understanding so many aspects of of the landscape of South Africa that I had previously not fully understood. Read more>>

Leslie A. Rasmussen | Author

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in communications. At the time I graduated, I thought I was going to become a line producer. I learned everything I could about editing, producing, mixing, etc, while I worked as an assistant on various television shows. As I watched the writers on comedies, I decided I’d rather be a writer. Read more>>