Filmmakers Damas and Jackson Hope To Start a Conversation With 'Speak to Me,' Screening at Bay Street

In Kurt Damas and Trevor Jackson’s short film “Speak to Me,” there is a moment when the main character, Simon, who narrates throughout the action, expresses a dilemma that is plaguing him in the aftermath of a personal tragedy.

“My Pops always told me to man up,” he says, speaking, in his head, to his best friend, Josiah, who is no longer with him. “You did too. So letting my lady see me helpless, it’s not an option.”

The hopelessness and despair that comes from Simon’s perceived lack of options during an emotional crisis, the pressure he feels to stifle his emotions, and the devastating consequences that come out of that are at the heart of the film, which will screen at Bay Street Theater on Friday, September 22, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the fourth annual Black Film Festival.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and a small panel of mental health care professionals from the Suffolk County Office of Minority Health.

The 24-minute film, the debut for Long Island residents Damas and Jackson, is powerful, with an emotional gut punch of an ending.

In an interview last week, Damas and Jackson said friends and family who watched the film had strong feelings about the ending, but said it has done what they intended it to do — start a conversation about the dangerous stereotypes and societal and cultural pressures that prevent men, and Black men in particular, from seeking mental health support.

Simon, played by Cory Saint-Laurent, has his life upended by a crisis midway through the film, and Damas and Jackson use that tragedy as a way to explore the larger themes they want to examine.

“He keeps saying different things, like ‘Who am I supposed to talk to?’” Damas said, adding that Simon struggles with the idea that feeling vulnerable will make him appear weak. “In the Black community, but really for all men, anyone who was raised with a father or grandfather who came up hard, we’re basically trying to erase that stigma.”

Jackson said it’s a struggle both he and Damas know intimately. “Growing up how we grew up, and I didn’t grow up in the hood or anything, but growing up how we grew up, I believed that ‘man up’ and tough guy mantra,” Jackson said.

Damas pointed out that the mentality of walling in emotions at all costs is a kind of generational trauma that has its roots in slavery. “We’re the generation that, hopefully, breaks that cycle,” Damas said, adding that he’s trying to teach his own son that it’s okay to cry, that being possessed of emotional intelligence is the mark of a true leader.

Damas and Jackson have done their own processing of tragedy recently, unexpectedly losing a close friend in January of last year. The way they processed and handled that grief together, and specifically how they had to lean on each other to get through, provided inspiration for the film.

On a particularly tough day, Damas paid a visit to Jackson and another friend. Together, they had a drink, and then laughed and cried together. “I went home feeling refreshed,” Damas said. “But on the ride home, I thought to myself, what if I didn’t have that circle to lean on? How would I feel?”

The film, which hardly feels like a debut effort, does an excellent job of exploring that question, and does not shy away from the harsh reality of what the answer to that question could be.

The chemistry between Saint-Laurent and Matthew Boyd, who plays the charismatic Josiah, sparkles on the screen. The contributions of supporting actors Nersheen Lotus, who plays Simon’s fiance, Dina, and LaVeda Davis, who plays Josiah’s mother, Mrs. Walker, are poignant as well, as they play two women who are quite literally begging Simon to be vulnerable, and are able to access those vulnerable emotions for themselves, but have to watch as he remains trapped in a vicious cycle.

Both Jackson and Damas said it was a revelation seeing how the film sparked conversations about mental health just among the cast and crew, and gave people a kind of freedom to be vulnerable about difficult situations they faced in their own lives. They want that to continue, both during the forum after the screening at Bay Street, and beyond.

“The goal is to start a conversation,” Jackson said. “There’s so much stigma in talking about mental health, but this gives people an excuse to talk about it.”

For more information about the film, visit speaktomethefilm.com.