1 out of the 52 top movies about mental illness in a google search feature a black male protagonist. This film aims to place the black psyche in the forefront and features a cast that is majority people of color, and a production crew that is majority female.

You don't have to be clinically insane or be diagnosed with a medical condition to be mentally ill.  That's what I learned 4 years ago when I had my crisis.

 

After a failed attempt at “making it”, jaded artist, Leinad Nahallac, returns home, only to find a life empty of meaning and a soul-emptying job.  But when he mistakenly dials a wrong number at work, a mysterious voice on the other end shatters his malaise and offers him a way out of his misery.  A journey ensues in which the lines between reality and fantasy, past and present, dream and nightmare blur into a maddening labyrinth that will lead Lei either towards his ultimate destiny or destruction.

 

Blending the quirky surrealism of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with the dark, psychological drama of Black Swan all through the unique perspective of a millennial person of color, Come On In promises a visual treat both familiar and uncommon in all the right ways.

 

Come On In was inspired by a challenging period in my own life, when I was going through what could be called a quarter life crisis. I was struggling with acute anxiety and depression and at times I felt trapped inside my own head.  Worst of all I suffered from a complete creative block and was unable to express myself in the ways I had grown accustomed to as an artist.  While this was a very terrifying experience it forced me to face my inner doubts and fears and through it, I was able to gain access to a deeper more spiritual side of myself.

 

In short, it forced me to grow up.  And in the process I found my creative voice and a new art technique that not only allowed me to express myself but to connect with others and my community in a higher, more meaningful way.  

 

This art technique, called MassQing, uses the human face as a canvas to create living works of art.  A MassQ is a ritual application of paint to the face to reveal rather than conceal our inner identity and states of being derrived from the tradition of body decoration practiced by nearly all indigenous peoples around the world.

 

In many of these indigenous cultures there are specific rites of passage rituals that are used to help usher young people into adulthood and that address the mental physical and spiritual changes in meaningful holistic ways. In our modern American culture we have a lack of such effective rituals.   I know for me personally, the rituals I had learned up to that point in my life no longer worked.  This lack of ritual has resulted in a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for my generation around growing up.

 

Our advancement into adulthood is too often measured by financial, material or status achievement and not by internal mental emotional and spiritual interpersonal development in relation to the larger community environment and world. This lack of connection and development has lead toward feelings of loneliness, stress and emptiness.  MassQing helped me deal with such feelings and also served as my own rite of passage, expanding my identity, broadening and increasing my relationships with others and bringing me back to a place of wholeness and health. 

 

Come On In is a visual expression of the mental and spiritual process I underwent during my mid life crisis and the healing effect that the artform of MassQing had and continues to have on my life.  The film is essentially a story about maturating, about crossing the threshold from childhood to adult-hood and all the trials and challenges that come with that.  It’s about the human need to create and use ritual to navigate major changes and transitions in life as well as to simply maintain sanity and cohesion in the face of an ever changing reality.

 

I’m making this film because it’s the kind of film I’ve always wanted to see, but never was able to find.  Rarely do movies dealing with mental illness feature black protagonists.  In fact out of the top 7 movies about mental illness according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 0 feature black male leads.  A google search of movies about mental disorders turns up 52 titles, out of which only 1, The Soloist, stars an African American.  Suffice it to say there are few movies about mental illness being told through the black and brown perspectives.  This is unfortunate considering that according to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, "African Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population."

 

I have family who struggle with mental illnesseveryday.  I know first hand the adverse effects it can have not only on an individual but his or her family and greater community.  My "crisis" and family history opened me up to the plight of many people in my comunity, who have dealt with so much trauma, misinformation, miseducation, self hatred, lonliness, and malnurishment.

 

I am making this movie for them, and for anyone who struggles with any kind of mental situation that is prohibiting their growth.  It is my hope that this movie will speak to them in particular but will also shine a light on the complexities of being a black male in today’s society. 

 

The central argument I pose with this film is two part, (1) that as black males we are in need of culturally sensitive rituals that facilitate our proper growth and maturation and provide access to our heritage of mental, physical and spiritual identity and (2) that even though many of us are bereft of such rituals and resources we are not without hope.  That within each of us is the key to our own purpose and well-being, if only we are willing to look for it.   

  

“We cannot escape our origins, however hard we might try, those origins contain the key — could we but find it — to all that we later become.” - James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son