Kiran Patel has been a documentary filmmaker for 10 years, documenting stories nationwide and, throughout it all, he’s learned to ask the deeper questions.
Now he’s inviting people to spend time in the director’s seat. His new card game, Deeper Questions, encourages people to dive past small talk and uncover meaningful conversations with strangers and loved ones alike.
He also runs the creative community space, MoveSpace, on Dominion Road, a “labour of love for music recording, filmmaking and other creative projects”. As a result of these experiences, Kiran has seen the value of learning about people by asking deeper questions.
“I first started considering the idea of a card game a few years ago after a very fulfilling interview for a documentary about Dominion Road” he tells Verve. “I was able to see the painful, happy, successful and disappointing pieces of a person’s story which helped form who they came to be.”
He also realised that, despite having spent so much time asking strangers profound questions, he’d never asked them of his own parents. “So, I launched a Kickstarter campaign to help create and market Deeper Questions, estimating that it would take three weeks to reach the $10,000 goal,” reveals Kiran. “To my surprise, it only took 27 hours!”
Within, two weeks of launch, Deeper Questions had raised $17,000, with 480 preorders.
Kiran is thrilled to see that his idea is fulfilling a collective desire for people to build deeper connections in a safe space, which he calls “vulnerability with safety”: “It can be intimidating to ask personal questions out of the blue.
However, when everyone has prepared themselves to play a card game designed for thoughtful conversations, they feel more comfortable slowly opening up.”
The game is versatile – able to accommodate groups of up to eight, or a couple on a date. Questions (like ‘Tell me about a moment you’ll treasure forever’) are designed to evoke positive memories and create stronger connections.
“By answering these questions about yourself or your past,” says Kiran, “you are getting to know yourself a little better, too.”
Kiran has already received positive feedback from friends and acquaintances who have tested the game out. He was happy to see families and couples uncovering details about each other’s lives that would have otherwise been left unsaid. “One friend told me that they had found out what their partner’s first impression of them was before they were together.”
He says that as amazing as it would be to see the game having large-scale success, Kiran would be happy even if 350 people bought the game: “This would be the equivalent of one person a day having a meaningful conversation over one year.”
With Christmas around the corner, this could be the perfect opportunity for you to give the gift of a deeper conversation!
The game is now open for pre-orders which are set to be delivered by early December, just in time for the holiday season. Find it at askdeeperquestions.com.
