Youth mental illness has reached crisis levels in America. The percentage of adolescents who have experienced at least one major depressive episode increased by 60 percent from 2007 to 2019. Rates of anxiety, self-harm, and attempted suicide were skyrocketing even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and since then matters have only gotten worse.
Filmmaker Ken Burns has executive produced a powerful new two-part documentary film on this subject. Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness will air on June 27 and 28 at 9:00 pm ET on PBS and will be available for streaming on the PBS App. The film was directed and edited by Burns’ long-time colleagues Erik Ewers and Christopher Ewers. It shares the voices of 21 diverse youth across America who are living with mental health challenges, addressing issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence.
Hiding in Plain Sight is part of a larger public media mental health initiative called Well Beings. The documentary was screened on Wednesday at the White House by First Lady Jill Biden.
“We hope that this film will save lives,” says Burns. Stories shared include a 14-year-old boy who is plagued by intrusive thoughts and withdraws into his own world, a 15-year-old struggling with addiction, a young Native American woman feeling so isolated that she contemplates suicide, and a transgender teen suffering from joylessness who turns to substance use.
The Ewers brothers have this advice for young people dealing with mental health issues in 2022:
· Talk about it. Talk about it. Talk about it. Talking helps. Talking heals.
· Remember: You are not alone! We are all enduring mental health challenges in life—all of us. This is a part of living and experiencing life.
· View mental health as a sliding scale. Some people can get up, brush themselves off, and move on. Others need a hand to pull them up. Others need more help to move forward.
· Find your person. In our film, 17-year-old Collin says, “Finding your person who can help you through times like that is extremely important... They can help you through these struggles. You aren’t alone.”
· Express yourself. Billie, a 17-year old transgender youth in our film says, “Don’t be afraid to express yourself and be who you are. Because honestly, not as many people are looking as you think... It’s scary putting yourself out there because you’re setting yourself up for others to judge you and that opens you up to criticism, but it also opens you up to love.”
· Finally, know this: it’s okay not to be okay!
Erik Ewers is the director and editor of Hiding in Plain Sight. He has worked with filmmaker Ken Burns for over 30 years and has won one personal Emmy Award. Chris Ewers is the film’s director and director of photography. He and Erik are the co-owners and co-directors of Ewers Brothers Productions, producing feature-length documentary films in partnership with Ken Burns and Florentine Films.
It was Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War, which Erik Ewers saw in 1990 while still in college, that inspired him to be a filmmaker. “I was moved to tears watching the movie, which combined old photographs with music and sound effects. It just felt so real to me, and emotional. I was overwhelmed,” he says. “In that moment, I told myself I wanted to do that.” Ewers was astonished to discover that Burns lived next door to his aunt and uncle in Walpole, NH. They met, Ewers began an internship almost immediately, and they have been working together ever since.
Chris Ewers says he wanted to be behind the camera since he was in high school. He studied cinematography in college back when digital filmmaking had yet to be invented. Now, he thrives on the collaborative nature of filmmaking.
As far as documentary filmmaking goes, the Ewers brothers take it very seriously. “We are responsible for someone’s legacy,” says Erik Ewers. “We are responsible for how we portray this person in all aspects of their life and their experiences, their trials and tribulations, and their achievements. We must handle it delicately and respectfully.”
The greatest challenge the filmmakers faced with Hiding in Plain Sight was building trust — not only with the interviewees but their families as well. “They confessed to the world some of their deepest, darkest moments in their lives while struggling with trauma and mental illness,” says Erik Ewers. “I learned immediately that by sharing my own very real past trauma and mental health challenges (I’ve been medicated for anxiety and OCD for 22 years), we were able to find relatability in each other. The process of sharing our stories can be extremely cathartic.”
Although the Covid-19 pandemic shut down their filmmaking efforts for several months, the Ewers brothers still were able to complete a high-quality film. “We used the downtime to focus our attention on the film’s script and story structure, which coincidentally allowed us to have laser focus when we could resume production,” says Chris Ewers. “Overall, I like to think the pandemic has brought us closer together and proved to the film industry just how resilient we are.”
To people looking to hone in on their life purpose, Erik Ewers has this advice. “Keep an eye and ear open to things in life that truly intrigue or inspire you and follow that. You can make a career out of what you love. I know because I did.” Chris Ewers say, “We all know the saying ‘love what you do.’ I truly believe that. Your job shouldn’t be about a paycheck. If you’re following your passion, that will come. Also, find a cheap place to live at first!”
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