Suicide Awareness Month: Guyanese cinematographer shines light on youths, film, mental health

By Mishael Henry

“The eyes are the key to the soul” is a famous phrase that Mason Richard, a professional cinematographer, has surely studied keenly as he sets his sights on bridging the gap between youths in Guyana, their free time, and cinematography — ultimately leading them away from mental illnesses and helping them find a passion to hone.
This publication interviewed the young talent, who is Guyanese-born but moved to Los Angeles years ago, where he pursued cinematography and theatre professionally. His steps come in tandem with Suicide Awareness Month.
According to Miller, cinematography can significantly impact how youths manoeuvre, and can help them express themselves.
“There’s a lot of power and relief in being able to express ourselves and tell our stories, especially for young people who may be struggling with mental health issues, social issues, issues with their families, and issues with their identity,” he explained. “So, it’s important that filmmaking, the craft of filmmaking, can be preventative for things like depression.”

Richards, who is very much aware of the suicide numbers in Guyana, also said it is unfortunate there aren’t many creative outlets for young people, such as cinematography, or even for older people, to express themselves. According to him, this is just one aspect, and it works both ways. He mentioned that filmmaking can also provide a window to express feelings.
“It provides the person, the artist, the writer, the opportunity to express what they’re feeling. And the second way is to serve the community, the person that watches the film. It could address an issue, maybe mental health, a family issue, or losing a child, or whatever the issue is.”

Practical approaches
People may watch a film or story and feel that they’re not alone. And maybe they may watch a film and see that their situation is the opposite, making them reflect on their lives, he explained.
Not only does he hold theoretical views on bridging the gap between youths and their spare time, but he has also taken practical approaches to mentor young people in Guyana on how to use cinematography to the benefit of their well-being, and also possibly generate vast incomes.
“If you give me 30 kids, people in the room right now, I can do a three-hour workshop and have them leaving there feeling like they understand the basics of creating a project. I also have people I can bring into the country to help develop some of these workshops, and also to train people. You know, the goal is to start with young people; they start making films, and then they become mentors of the craft,” he has declared.
Lamenting the scarcity of resources the country has in the cinematography sector, he said, “There isn’t any solid training for young people to learn film…I think that arts and culture are so important to sustaining our cultural identity, and storytelling is so powerful and important. It’s really unfortunate that I don’t see many programmes, or any programmes in Guyana, that are teaching film to young people in a way that allows them to produce quality work. Right now I think the issue is resources. What I’ve heard is that there are no resources or trained people who are qualified enough to teach young people.”
In the past, Richards has created a short 9-minute film in Guyana, which was centred around migration. He is now seeking to create an add-on to that film, and Guyanese youths can be part of the production of this add-on.
“I’m making a feature version of my 9-minute seawall film. I came back to see what I can offer to young people in terms of filmmaking, because I realize there aren’t many opportunities for young people to make films, or to make good films, given the lack of resources in the country. My goal is to make them a part of my crew, so the goal is that (when) we shoot in Guyana, we would have young local talent working alongside the crew from Los Angeles to New York,” he explained.
He added that all of these efforts will be culminated under a mentorship programme.
“I developed a mentorship programme for films. I’m trying to work with the Institute of Creative Arts in Guyana. I’m trying to partner with them to see if I can offer some filmmaking courses, some performance courses, some crew production courses, because I actually get emails from people in Guyana — young people wanting to learn filmmaking, learning how to operate cameras properly, how to direct actors,” he disclosed.