Summer Angel makes case for seniors
JAMAICAN-BORN, US-based emerging film director Skeitha “Summer Angel” Richards feels the protection of seniors is of utmost priority, especially those with underlying conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Our seniors are being abused by relatives and friends who believe they do not have anything more to contribute to society, yet they are ready to have their inheritance. I have worked with these seniors and I know the struggles they have to face in order to survive. Governments, over the years, have been talking much about our seniors who are abandoned by even their own relatives,” she said.
“I am therefore suggesting that Government have house-to-house surveys to find out the conditions of our seniors. In addition, they could boost their social services such as the NHF [National Health Fund], and NIS [National Insurance Scheme], PATH [Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education] programme, and the collaboration with Food For the Poor with housing solutions,” she continued.
In July, Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton urged relatives not to abandon their seniors in hospitals. He said the Government intended to use the courts to challenge the legality of people abandoning their loved ones in the hospital system.
In her latest short film, 3:00pm to 11:00 pm, Summer Angel is highlighting the abuse of seniors.
“Nowadays people want to watch movies about guns, sex, and a bunch of negative themes. I have decided to look at a problem, which might have escaped a lot of people who are looking in the wrong direction,” she said.
“This is about a senior who is locked between dementia and two sinister persons hoping to gain from her illness,” she continued.
The self-taught Summer Angel said she is funding the film from personal savings, and the cast comprises close friends, including deejay Macka Diamond and fashion designer Jenelle Thompson.
Shooting began in Delaware on December 1 and the film will premiere during the Christmas holidays at The Final Revival, Lansdowne Avenue, in Pennsylvania.
The Linstead-born Summer Angel has five movies and seven short films to her credit. These include Sticky Situation, parts 1, 2, and 3 and The Truth About Tom.
Summer Angel said she has a rich music legacy.
“Beenie Man was raised in my home; Flippa Mafia is my cousin; Gregory Isaacs is my uncle-in-law, while my father Donovan Richards aka Captain Bebo Dan was a deejay and well-respected in the Linstead community,” she said.
Summer Angel, at age eight, left Jamaica to join her mother in Florida. She then relocated to Philadelphia and finally New York (NY). She attended Evander Childs High School in NY, but opted for film instead of music.
She now routes her productions on her YouTube channel called Summer Angel Productions.