Covered Silence

Independent filmmaker, Roosevelt Jackson, presents "Covered Silence", a story that speaks to the complexities of mental illness. "Covered Silence" tells the story of a young woman named LaLa Taylor who throughout her life, has never felt the genuine love or protection of another person, not even her parents. Traumatic events in LaLa's life caused her to seek professional help at a mental hospital. There she meets Niani Jones whose life has also been altered in such a way that she seeks treatment to get back to the normalcy she once had. The two form an unbreakable bond of friendship that no one can seem to understand. Upon their release from the hospital, they struggle to adjust to an everyday routine. They fear the mental illness issues they have learned how to deal with will eventually be triggered while trying to adjust into a "normal" society. Niani soon finds out that she has become pregnant. She fears her medications, which control the triggers of her mental condition will affect her unborn child. She is even more afraid of not taking those same medications, which assist her mental stability. She is emotionally torn and bewildered fighting daily to make the best decisions she can for her mental health and her baby's overall health. LaLa sees Niani's struggle and has taken it upon herself to protect her at all costs. She feels that Niani is the one person who genuinely cares and loves her just the way she is. While trying to protect Niani from succumbing to her past pitfalls, LaLa's murky past is triggered when her mother contacts her for a re-connection. This attempt of communication starts her downward spiral because her mother's relentless behavior emerges as it once had before. LaLa must now fight with her internal demons while trying to protect Niani from hers. "Covered Silence" is a suspenseful drama that takes you on a roller coaster journey through different emotional paths with a climatic ending. Mental illness is a disease not a crime but it only becomes a crime when you allow it to take over your ability to rationalize right from wrong.