This summer, Morehouse 2017 Alumnus, Terrance Daye was recognized as a finalist in the 44th Student Academy Awards for his film, The Colored Hospital.
The awe-inspiring film came to Daye within a span of a few mere hours. “[The Colored Hospital] was the direct result of months and months of thinking and research. I had a number of images circulating in my head, photographs that I had seen or ideas that I jotted down.” Daye tells HBCU Buzz.
All of these mental images became the premise for the film. Terrance Daye expresses that he had an interest in mental health, particularly depression within black men. Confessing to having dealt with depression during his time at Morehouse, the intent of his film was to create a film that spoke directly to the narratives of depression within the black community.
“So often we lack the words or the vocabulary to articulate our feelings. This film was my attempt at that.”
The Colored Hospital serves as a Capstone Film Project under Morehouse College’s Cinema, Television & Emerging Media Studies Program. Terrance says that through this program, he truly found his passion for visual storytelling. As ironic it seems, Terrance actually did not anticipate going to Morehouse.
“Morehouse turned out to be the only school that accepted me. I took those rejections really hard at first…When I look back at how God used those closed doors to re-position me on the amazing journey that I am on now, I am speechless! I will always embrace rejection as another opportunity to trust God for that reason. The AUC was also a perfect hub to develop as a person and an artist.”
Terrance ended up graduating from Morehouse in May, earlier this year. Through hard work and dedication, he graduated as the top scholar in his department with Latin Honors.
This Fall Terrance will begin studying at NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts in their graduate film program. He plans to finish his studies at the prestigious film school within three years.
When asked what he aspires to do as a filmmaker he states that he wants, “to make people uncomfortable.”
Daye is looking to spark conversations in a realm of different areas. He identifies as not just a filmmaker, but a poet and playwright.
“I want to create content that engages people, that invites us to think deeply on topics and subject matter that are difficult and, yes, uncomfortable. I think discomfort has the potential to heal. I was uncomfortable the first time I stepped into a therapist’s office, but the experience changed my life and opened my eyes to a form of self-care that I didn’t know I needed. Film definitely has the potential to do that: change our way of seeing and thinking about a thing. So you can always expect that from my films: discomfort, but behind that will always be a well of love and behind that, a deep desire to participate.”
We look forward to witnessing the work that Terrance Daye will produce. He is an HBCU artist that the Buzz Team is deeply proud of.
To view his film, The Colored Hospital, click here.
