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While capturing Danny’s story and journey, I found myself on my own, which is not shown in the film but shaped its emotional core. Through research, I learned that my grandfather left a small island on the Croatian coast during World War II when he was a teenage refugee bound for America. Growing up, I was separated from my biological family as an infant, and my origins were hidden from view for most of my life. My grandfather was just a name I discovered on Ancestry.com, part of a family tree I could see on a web interface but not in real life. I only had fragments to go on: dates, places, and surnames.

Before filming, I took the opportunity to make a side trip to that island and discovered the ruins of my grandfather’s childhood home, abandoned since the Second World War. I met distant cousins there who warmly welcomed me into their home and filled in details of my past, telling me about my grandfather and his own mystery of whether he truly had a grandson. That moment sparked a deeper search into my roots, one that eventually led me to find him, still alive on the other side of the world in California at 94 years old, and to a relationship I never imagined possible.

Although my story is not directly featured in Find Yourself, it quietly influenced how I edited the film and how I understood Danny’s search for meaning and his connection with his father. For me, it underscored that “home” is not a simple concept. It can be the family you found, the places and stories you uncover later, and the parts of yourself you discover when you are willing to look into the unknown and the forgotten past. The world is a deep, mysterious place, full of wonder and story, and each one has many sides. What I learned from this journey, and it is not over, is that sometimes you have to take that plunge into the unknown and see what life brings you.