Paul Plett, the film director at Ode productions recently came out with an intro video to his newest project, a historical documentary about himself as a Mennonite!

 "I am a Mennonite," says Plett, explaining what inspired him to do a project like this but, "where do I fit into this larger Mennonite community."

The documentary is called I am a Mennonite, and it is looking at Plett's life as a Mennonite as he wants to "dive in and explore what makes a Mennonite a Mennonite."

In a previous film called Seven points on earth, Plett explored different Mennonite farms in different countries and cultures. This inspired him to take another look at the richness of his own heritage which is incidentally the heritage of many Mennonite Winnipeggers as well.

"There is definitely a bigger conversation happening in our society and around the world about the relevance of religion and the relevance of tradition," says Plett. 

The filmmaker then reiterated that he is doing this project because it interests him and is not looking at the story solely for its interest to other people.

"I'm proud of being a Mennonite, I'm proud of where I came from and I also want to hear about how other people are proud of who they are," exclaimed Plett.

"I think the Mennonites have something to say," says Plett. "The way that we have traditionally lived off the land, we are a farming people and we have explored our faith," Plett continues, saying we are a people of peace and a people who want harmony with the earth.

Plett is also interested in the political representation in the Mennonite community and how many perspectives there are within one people group.

He sees this as an opportunity to encourage listening and tolerance as he hopes to highlight the similarities of Mennonites specifically but also of any peoples with differing opinions.

Plett has already started to sit down with pastors, theologians, and historians to start talking about the Mennonite journey, and is excited to travel to Ukraine and the Netherlands to talk with Mennonites there.

Plett is excited to find out things like, "what do perogies look like in the Netherlands, do they even eat perogies there?"

The director is also excited to interview, "people who don't identify as Mennonite in the same way that I do."

Plett's vision for this film is for it to be a fun project that encourages celebrating positive ethnicity.