The Question is a narrative short about a couple whose relationship is tested by America’s political divide. Lisa, a progressive theater director, wants to mount an anti-Trump adaptation of Hamlet, while her boyfriend Matthew, a conservative actor who voted for Trump, refuses to participate. Their clash forces them to confront buried histories: Lisa’s family’s trauma from Japanese American incarceration in the 1940s and Matthew’s economic pain following the 2008 financial crisis. Through their intimate, often uncomfortable conversation, the film explores how personal experience shapes political identity and why disagreement so easily becomes dehumanizing. 

‍

The Question is designed as a catalyst for community conversations, using storytelling to open space for curiosity, compassion, and hard truth-telling. It challenges audiences to consider what it would mean to really listen to people we love—and people we don’t—on the other side of the political divide.