On The Stairway

A young man struggles with his mental health journey, shown metaphorically as a staircase. The film speaks about how everyone’s journeys are different and aims to remove stigma about talking to others about your mental health. In the end, a friend helps him up and they walk together. I chose this category because of the stigma surrounding youth, especially young men, to speak about their issues and what’s upsetting them. I wanted to create a film that encouraged others to talk about it with a friend or trusted adult, and to show that all journeys to mental health recovery are different. During filming, all I asked of actors was to recreate how they felt with their mental health on the stairways in our school. There were many clips not shown in the film, but some chose to wait, run, sit, or be pushed around. This was how they felt– the film, and the making of the film, allowed me to learn about my friends, as during filming we spoke alot about challenges we faced in life and our emotions. I wanted to reflect this in the use of he metaphor of the stairway as a journey. The making of “On The Stairway” was a journey in itself for us.