Ladner's Perry Sieben wanted to bring a broader picture to light with his new documentary about mental health.
Burnt Pages, which will be screened in Vancouver next Sunday, follows six young adults dealing with various mental health issues over the course of a few months.
"We told them right off the bat, 'We don't want this to be a message about something else. It's about you and what you're going through,'" he says.
Sieben, 24, says the halfhour documentary isn't political in the sense of making points about what needs to be done but that it's designed to help viewers empathize.
"It's just a very intriguing and complex issue. I think the more people I interviewed in the documentary, I realized it's just so different for everyone."
It's an issue that's close to Sieben. He says he's had people tell him they've been dealing with things for quite some time and that it's scary to realize someone so close to you could be in so much pain and stay silent.
He also says he dealt with the issue in high school.
"I probably should have seen a counselor... but at same time, I thought it was just me and who I was.
"Once I moved past it, I realized there was something more going on." Sieben, a Delta Secondary and UBC grad, points out that he doesn't have all the answers when it comes to the topic of mental health.
"Even after this documentary I think I have more questions than answers. This documentary brings up a lot of questions and not answers."
The documentary will be screened Sunday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. at Langara College, 100 West 49th Ave.,
Vancouver. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Sieben received a grant from the Vancouver Foundation to host the free screening. There will be a speaker presentation before the documentary is shown and Q and A session afterwards with the cast and crew.
A trailer can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/events/140304382989808/.
