In 2011, Jacolby Percy's short film "A Higher Power" was an official selection of the Urbanworld Film Festival where it screened in front AMC Theater audiences ready to soak in a story about death, faith and the consequences of a grieving fathers' criminal acts. Percy, who lost three members of his own family including his father, uncle and cousin all in a short period of time, gave viewers a story about people in crisis who cross paths and learn from each other.
Percy's new film "Ritechus Cry" (formerlly titled "Rear View" until recently) tells the story of a suicidal hip-hop artist who is trying to maintain his tough public image despite secretly dealing with depression. This summer, I did an interview with Jacolby Percy, where he explains how this short film came to light, misconceptions about suicide and the best coping practices when your loss hits close to home.
Madlab Post: Is the close family member who inspired you to make "Ritechus Cry" the same person who is the inspiration behind "A Higher Power?"
Jacolby Percy: No. Actually, it was a cousin. What's interesting about that is, before I came to New York where we did that interview for the [Urbanworld] film festival, my cousin took his own life. So, I was going through that [grief period] at that time. It literally happened a few weeks before I left to go to New York, so I was struggling with that -- it was so surreal. I lost my father a few years prior to my cousin's death.
Although your cousin's suicide shook up your family, does "Ritechus Cry" have the ability to help your family heal and come to terms with his death?
Yeah absolutely! I am inspired by my cousin, of course, but I had no thought in my mind about making a movie [of this subject matter] because of his death. I had friends who approached me and shared their own experiences with losing family members to suicide, while offering condolences for my loss. They either lost somebody or know someone that knows somebody that this happened to and I was shocked to hear what they told me.
At the time, I was already working on a coming-of-age story about a hip-hop artist and co-writer Byron Morris who also appeared in "A Higher Power" came to me and said "Man, I got this idea for a movie about suicide..." while telling me about some things he was going through -- without having any prior knowledge of what was going on with me and my family. So, I was like "What?!!" because what I was writing was similar to what he was saying.
It was just crazy! So, I kinda merged the two [Hip-hop story and suicide ideas] stories. These experiences told me that I needed to make this film -- I was kinda hesitant at first because the subject matter was so sensitive and so fresh at the time. After I heard from Morris, however, I was like "Aw man, I have to do this movie!" So, this is for all people who have experienced suicide. I'm just trying to bring awareness to it. Of course, the movie will be good for my family and any family because it has resolutions at the end -- not just someone going out and killing themselves; that's not helping anybody. "Ritechus Cry" is a raw, gritty film with very complex subplots -- it's not just about suicide. It's about what's going on as we speak right now.
I just want people to realize that if you're hurting, you don't have to put on this mask, as we tend to do -- especially the African-American population, myself included. When I was a younger kid, I put on this mask and felt like I can't ask for help for anything, so it's extra tough. When you're a hip-hop artist, that toughness is almost required -- you can't come out and say "Oh, I'm having dark thoughts" or "I'm feeling bleak." So, that's why I'm doing this. Hopefully, it will help my family but even as they mourn, there are millions of other people going through this, not just my family. Loss by suicide is not an isolated experience.
What motivated you to choose Hip-Hop music as the career path for the main character rather than a blue-collar or even white-collar field with high depression rates such as the Food Service industry, nursing or educators?
In a sense, we know that the majority of humans who take their own lives are normally caucasians; there was also a large number of African-Americans who comitted suicide since the 1990s. Although the number has declined greatly in recent years, suicide among African-Americans still occur.
A while ago, a little girl came up to me asking what "Ritechus Cry" was about -- when I told her about the movie, she said "black folks don't kill themselves!" and I'm like "[Sarcastically] Oh, they don't?!! 'Cause I know a few who have!" -- So yeah, suicide is prevalent in blue-collar jobs or among white people, etc. but for some people to say [or believe] that it doesn't exist in the black community, where do we go then if it happens to our families? Do we just sweep it under the rug? Take the pain and not mourn in the right way?
For people who don't know, it's a different type of mourning when it comes to suicide. It's not a normal type of mourning -- I think it's proven to be one of the worse because you don't have the comfort of knowing that if the person could be here, they would. Just the thought "Aw man, if that person could be here, he or she wouldn't want to be here. They took their own lives" -- all of that is extra on a person's mind when someone that they know commits suicide.
There are so many unanwered questions, so there is a different approach to healing after that. So, where do we go if suicide is nonexistent and black folks don't kill themselves? It's not that widespread where you see it all the time but just look around -- it's happening more than you know. Off the top of my head, I can name at least five or six people who committed suicide in the last year. All of them are African-American or people of color, so I wanted to use somebody that you would least expect.
That's who it normally is -- not the nerdy guy who's sitting in the corner who's a weirdo. He does it too, but I'm just saying, a guy who has to walk around in the world with this tough bravado -- that's the guy who you'd least expect and sometimes, they are the weakest ones. In our community, I've seen a couple of people who were thought to be tough and they killed themselves.
It's like "Wow, this doesn't make any sense! That guy had to be setup, he had to be murdered or something. He just wouldn't kill himself!" but you just never know what's going on a person's mind. That's why I wanted to do it with a tough guy, a hip-hop artist who you wouldn't normally see take his own life.
In your experience, what are some of the most effective ways people can learn to cope with their loss of a family member or friend who committed suicide?
From my experience and what I've seen talking to people is that you have to be around people who support you and people who understand. What I mean by that is people who have been through the same thing such as suicide support groups, etc. because what I say to you when somebody just died of natural causes or sickness might affect you differently if it was a suicide. You might hurt a person by telling them different things or tip-toeing around the issue and people don't know that.
To cope with suicide from my understanding, you just have to be around people who have been through it. A lot of support groups and community center programs are free. You need to talk to someone who has already crossed that hurdle of experiencing it and knowing how to cope with it -- that's the key, because you never get over it. Trying to deal with it like a normal type of death is not going to work. The overwhelming amount of guilt that comes along with suicide is deeper than any other death. If you lost a family member or friend suddenly or to heart failure, etc. you come to develop an understanding [about their death] later on but suicide is not like that.
How did IndieGoGo beat out other crowdfunding services for your "Ritechus Cry" fundraising campaign?
[Laughing] I need all the money I can get to make this happen.
If you give me half towards my goal, that's so generous and great -- we'll have to work with that. I know that I have a certain goal and there are certain things we need to make a quality film such as equipment rentals, locations and even small things that come up behind the scenes that people don't know about. Every little bit counts, so I say rather than get zero dollars, I can work with whatever I get. You never know what will happen -- you could get over the goal, hit the goal right on the money or meet much less than your goal.
We don't know and I can't predict the future, so I felt like going with IndieGoGo after weighing my options. It was a better platform for me and what I'm trying to do. Making a film is expensive, and I've been trying to raise funds in other ways as well. Once we reach a certain amount on the IndieGoGo campaign, we're giving a portion of the proceeds to suicide prevention programs and community centers to help.
"Ritechus Cry" (formerlly titled "Rear View") is currently in development and raising funds for the production on IndieGoGo. This film tackles an important subject that far too many people either ignore or don't take very seriously, which is why I urge those of you reading this post to support the film through donations (they are being accepted for as low as $2...most people have two dollars!) and/or sharing this interview with as many people as you know who can help "Ritechus Cry/Rear View" reach its fundraising campaign goal on IndieGoGo.
Have YOU lost a friend or family member to suicide?
What are YOUR best suggestions for coping with the death of a loved one?
Which factors do YOU think play a role in high suicide rates among certain gender, job, age or racial groups within the population?
UPDATE - September 16, 2012: After I published this interview, the film's director informed me that he changed the name of his movie to "Ritechus Cry." Please note where necessary.