INDIANAPOLIS — As Black Men's Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, a new initiative is launching this weekend in Indianapolis. The cultural storytelling initiative aims to address emotional well-being through the lens of film.
The film "To Live and Die and Live," directed by Qasim Basir, will screen in Indianapolis for the first time as part of the new cultural storytelling initiative "Reels and Roots."
Basir described the film's central narrative: “It’s a story about a guy who comes home the week his stepfather dies, and his struggles with an addiction.” Basir told WRTV the film also touches on struggles with mental health.
Dr. Russell Ledet, co-founder of Reels & Roots, emphasized the initiative's mission. “The point of creating Reels and Roots was to bring together people who wouldn't necessarily all be in the same room together," he said.
Dr. Ledet founded the imitative with both Konah Williams and Raymond Powell.
Their goal was to create a relatable platform for discussing mental health, especially in communities of color.
“I think filming is one of the most powerful ways to, you know, get a message across, you know, cultural lines and it starts to develop into something that everybody can feel a part of," Powell said.
When asked why addressing mental health is critical, Dr. Ledet responded, “From a historical standpoint, we can talk about how we've been left out of these conversations. We could also think about it from a current standpoint; suicide rates are not in a great place, specifically for Indiana.”
According to the CDC, more than 400 Black Hoosiers have died by suicide since 2018, an issue that the initiative hopes to improve by taking the conversation from the big screen to the community.
“People often respond to the question, ‘How are you doing?’ with ‘I’m good,’ but really, they are not,” Powell noted. “And so we can kind of open that up, do a conversation through these films.
Basir added, “I just want people to feel something, and I wanted to give them motivation to act if they need to.”
The film screening, followed by a community conversation, will take place at the Phoenix Theater Cultural Centre starting at 4 p.m.
Tickets are free to everyone, and any donations will go toward two local organizations, PACE (Public Advocates in Community re-Entry) and Mumineen CDC, led by Raymond Powell, both focused on re-entry work.
The initiative plans to have the screenings and discussions every quarter. They will post times and locations on their website.
