Relationship Remix explores and celebrates mixed-race couples 

Relationship Remix is deeply personal to producer Chris Sharpe. 

The 44-minute documentary for CBC’s Absolutely Canadian series, which can now be watched on CBC Gem, explores the challenges of being in mixed-race relationships. These were the problems Sharpe, who co-created and co-produced the documentary, confronted when he first met his now wife, Sonya.

“I’m of Jamaican descent. My wife is Pakistani. We met when we were young,” Sharpe recalls to Flatlander. “When I first called her house, her parents told me, ‘Don’t call her ever again,’ At that point I realized there were some cultural differences.”

While the pair initially vowed to just be friends, Chris and Sonya eventually started dating in secret, before then marrying. In Relationship Remix, Sharpe asks Sonya’s parents why they were so opposed to their dating, a conversation that finally provided closure for him.

Throughout Relationship Remix, Sharpe interviews other mixed-race couples, all with the intention of celebrating love and diversity and showing why it’s so integral to build a more inclusive society. 

“I was actually surprised that something like this hadn’t been done before,” admits Sharpe. “Discussions about race and relationships are mostly had in private. I wanted to explore the cultural issues that make people have friction and take a deep dive into the lives of mixed couples.”

Sharpe started the process of finding subjects for the documentary by posting a call-out for mixed couples on social media. Soon, people from across Canada, the United States, and even parts of Europe got in contact with him. Over a two-year process, Sharpe spoke to them about the difficulties they’ve confronted while being in a relationship, how they overcame them, and the struggles that still arise. 

Relationship Remix feels particularly prescient for Sharpe in the wake of Donald Trump’s recent election victory in the United States.

“It’s a good time to talk about this with the backdrop of what’s happening,” said Sharpe. “Their new leadership is looking to get rid of diversity. This documentary explores our differences and tries to start conversations about mixed couples coming together, being successful, and creating beautiful families. It’s a little surreal that it’s coming out in 2025.”

Sharpe’s aim with Relationship Remix was to highlight that being in a mixed race couple is “not taboo anymore.” In fact, he points out, “it’s been one of the fastest growing relationship combinations over the last 10 years,” adding, “As my wife mentions in the documentary, when mixed couples come together, they’re actually creating a new culture.”

Relationship Remix is the latest project from Sharpe’s Black Film Space Manitoba — a film production company based in Winnipeg that he began after repeatedly being frustrated by other studios.

“I was trying to get TV shows and other concepts off the ground. I would pitch and pitch and pitch. In frustration I decided to start my own studio and make my own content, which I then took to networks. The results have been quite extraordinary.”

Next on the horizon for Black Film Space Manitoba is a sports comedy about a Jamaican curling team from Winnipeg called Cool Sweeping, while they’re also developing other feature films and even a children’s cartoon.

Sharpe isn’t done with Relationship Remix either.

“I want to expand it. I want there to be a Relationship Remix about Toronto, Atlanta, and London. I want to explore the world even further.”