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Derik & Mia

Film

Derik & Mia

Production Assistant · Background Actor

Mia navigates exclusion, communication barriers, family dynamics, and an unfamiliar college social world while trying to claim more space for herself.

ProjectFilm
Core rolesProduction Assistant · Background Actor
Watch the film About the film

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Watch the film here, or open it directly on YouTube.

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01 · Story

About the film

Mia wants to participate on her own terms, even when the people around her do not understand her.

Derik & Mia follows Mia, a deaf young woman who encounters exclusion when she is told she cannot join a cross country team because she does not speak. Her brother initially dismisses the situation and struggles to understand her signing, but eventually offers to coach her himself.

The story also places Mia in the college social world, where her communication differences become another source of attention. At a party, other students react to her deafness with curiosity and insensitive comments, reinforcing the gap between being present in a space and actually feeling understood within it.

The film uses those moments to explore communication, belonging, family relationships, and the way independence can look different when the people around you are still learning how to listen.

02 · Contribution

My roles

I supported the project both behind the scenes and on camera.

  1. Production Assistant
  2. Background Actor

03 · Production

Supporting the set means helping both the production and the world on screen feel complete.

Production assistance and background acting contribute to two different sides of the same scene.

As a Production Assistant, I supported the practical needs of the set and the people working on it. That kind of work helps keep production moving and gives the cast and crew more room to focus on the scene itself.

As a Background Actor, I also contributed to the social environments around the central characters. For a story that moves through school, training, and party settings, those surrounding performances help make the spaces feel lived in and believable.