Alton Mason’s short film and social impact campaign “Rise in Light”

Alton Mason released the short film and social impact campaign “Rise in Light” in collaboration with creative platform Melanin Unscripted with an aim to shed light on the darkest corners of the world and provide relief to children and families in Nigeria at Khan Foundation who live in Makoko and Iwaya slums in Lagos, Nigeria affected by COVID-19 through a fundraiser on Gofundme. The initial goal to raise $10,000 for the initiative was exceeded, and Alton used the film, directed by Nigerian-American filmmaker Amarachi Nwosu and Soof Light, as a catalyst to start important conversations around Africa and how people are being impacted by the pandemic. The campaign “Rise in Light” has received a lot of support from people like Joan Smalls, Storm Reid, Temi Otedola, WurlD, Winnie Harlow and Iddris Sandu. Notable figures Naomi Campbell and Virgil Abloh showed their support to the movement. Click here watch.

In Alton’s words, “#RiseinLight is a movement created by the youth to inspire and ignite the future leaders of our world. It’s a call for change, evidence of freedom and the expression of love and joy.” “​During this global crisis, many of us are losing loved ones, businesses, faith, & hope. We are all being affected by the seen and unseen, and it is so easy to spiritually succumb to the darkness that we are at war with. “Rise in Light” is a call for change, evidence of freedom and the expression of love and joy. Created to inspire and uplift.” “During this time, I strongly believe it’s important to stay positive and live on a higher frequency/vibration. We are stronger when we are unified and we even heal the world by doing so, as one.”

Speaking to Nigerian-American filmmaker Amarachi Nwosu and founder of the creative platform Melanin Unscripted, She said “The main goal of the film was to show the concept of love, light and understanding. It’s a really dark and uncertain time in the world and we wanted to use our creativity to not only show a film representing reconnection to people, land, water and nature but also make a difference in the lives of the communities we present. While many artists often come to Africa and use the aesthetics of the space, we wanted to be more considerate and use this film as a catalyst to actually help people on the ground and make an impact. ‘R​ise in light’ is an opportunity for us to shed light on communities that often get overlooked but also the opportunity for us to tune in to the light we all have in ourselves. While we are going through a dark time, we can dig deep at our core and share abundance with others.

”Persian-Canadian visual artist and cinematographer, Soofi Shaheen also known as Soof Light added “​A project that began as a light-hearted collaboration in Lagos, over time evolved into a short film rich with purpose. The editing process was a practice of puzzle-piecing different visuals together to craft the story through symbolism. After much time spent rearranging the pieces, things eventually clicked into place and it felt like we cracked open a whole new layer of truth in the message. With the timing of this pandemic, we each felt an inner calling to find some way to apply our creativity into some form of a solution – no matter the size of it. Truthfully, I think if every being were to direct their energy & awareness more towards solutions, the snowball effect of small solutions adding up would have an incredible momentum towards healing. Hopefully, our creation can spark a light in the hearts of a few others to apply their creative minds towards solutions in their spheres.”

The world is working today to resort normalcy shock by this pandemic. Let’s all do our due duties to keep ourselves safe and avoid unnecessary risks to our health, self-isolated to enable the curve of infection to flatten for this is another test for humanity, which we shall overcome.