Moriah’s Journey, a short film produced and directed by Guyanese Jason October, which documents the story of a young woman from Sophia, Georgetown who secured a place at Howard University, Washington DC, was selected for the Digicel PlayGo Emerge Film and Photo Essay Competition semifinal.
This regional competition includes commentary, documentary and drama and Jason is the only Guyanese in the documentary category. So far, the film has more than 4,500 votes, placing him in the top spot for the People’s Choice Award, a position it will only maintain if voters are consistent with their votes.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award will receive a one-year subscription to Adobe Premiere Pro, a US$1,000 Amazon gift certificate to purchase more camera gear and a cash prize of US$1,000. Meanwhile, if Moriah’s Journey wins in the documentary category, Jason will receive a cash prize of US$2,000, a four-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles (per-diem included), Revolt Mentorship, and an all-access pass to the American Film Market.
Jason entered the short film into the competition early this month and by September 13, he learned that it had reached the semifinal. However, the film was initially created for another purpose. He explained that he was approached by Patrick Stephens and Mark Archer about producing the film. This was back in August and at the time Jason had not yet heard of the competition.
Nineteen-year-old Moriah Hamilton, the young woman featured in the film, had completed her secondary education at Queen’s College and been accepted at one of the top schools in the US, Howard University. The film was part of a fund-raiser to cover her tuition at the university and travel expenses. However, her team was able to raise the needed finances without the film.
When Jason heard of the competition, he knew his inspirational documentary deserved an international
audience. As such, the film was redone with Moriah sharing snippets of her journey, of her being dubbed “the ghetto girl” by rich students in her school and her defiance of all the odds to make it to Howard University. Moriah’s immediate family also shared about her determination to get this far.
The filmmaker said that to have made it into the semifinal is overwhelming for him especially considering that Guyana does not have a film school. All of his knowledge was gained from watching tutorials on YouTube as well as online classes. “Just using my raw talent, I’m able to be on an original platform without training from any university. It is a good feeling, knowing that I was self-taught and … able to produce something good,” said Jason.
He added that for him it is not just about the competition, but using Moriah’s story to inspire young people to follow their dreams and others to be more supportive of such goals. “Me entering this competition was never about the prize, was never about the recognition but using this platform to create change,” said the filmmaker. So far he has received great feedback from all those who have viewed the 11-minute film. Guyanese living here and in the diaspora have shared their support. Jason said that major support has come from the Facebook group ‘Guyana – A Story of Pictures, Old and New’ which has approximately 61,000 followers. The popular tourism Facebook page ‘Visit Guyana’ has also shared news of the film.
Moriah’s Journey has also seen people from overseas reaching out to Jason to partner with them in producing more films.
Patrick Stephens, Moriah’s mentor and co-producer of the film, who also made a guest appearance, told The Scene that the teen had been homeless twice. After graduating from QC, the former student of Mae’s Academy, applied to Howard and was granted a partial scholarship. “We had to raise an additional US$40,000 to get her to go to the United States. We only had two months to do that, so we organized a campaign using social media, print media, television, etc and the story became extremely popular. We were able to raise the US$40,000. As a matter of fact, we raised US$50,000 within one month. So she was able to fulfil that dream of going on to Howard University to pursue her passion to become a Green Environmental Engineer,” enthused Patrick. He said that when Jason went to him about entering the film into the competition, he saw it as an opportunity for publicity that would do well to help others in Moriah’s situation.
“So when he called me and said he was in the [semifinal]… I went on the site and I looked at some of the other stuff. I saw others that are good but it made me realize that our [film] is pretty good stuff. So, I like to think of them [the other films] as two stars and Jason October, young videographer who is trying on his own to make a mark in a country that doesn’t really have the systems and the opportunities but yet he is persisting as four stars, then you’ve got Moriah, who against all odds was fighting on her own and she is making it, she is now at Howard University,” said Patrick.
Jason is the founder and CEO of Cinefxx Photo and Film Expo, which was last held in 2019 and cancelled last year as a result of the elections. With new members on the team, Cinefxx is being rebranded and an expo is being planned for November next year. Plans are in place to partner with the Ministry of Tourism.
Voters have until September 30 to log on and ensure Moriah’s Journey wins the People’s Choice Award. One voter is allowed four votes for each contestant. The link https://rb.gy/vkazs9 can be used to view the film and place votes. Winners in the various categories are expected to be announced in October.
