Here One Day trailer from Kathy Leichter on Vimeo.
Suicide is a sensitive subject for most readers of this blog, certainly for me, and watching any film about it is difficult. I wanted to post this 9-minute preview of Kathy Leichter’s documentary, Here One Day – with this warning about its possibly triggering subject – because it’s such an honest and moving treatment of her own attempt to come to terms with her mother’s suicide.
Leichter, an award-winning film-maker, is currently raising funds to complete the post-production of this full-length film, so it will be a while before we get to see the full version. This brief overview video nevertheless stands on its own, with its many beautiful, intimate, difficult, even disturbing moments. Here’s Leichter’s description of the basic story:
Early one February morning, after a decades-long struggle with bipolar disorder, Nina Leichter, a sixty-three year old mother of two, committed suicide by jumping out of a window. Being the wife of a New York State Senator, her death was reported on the radio, in newspapers, and on television. HERE ONE DAY picks up where the mainstream press left off. …
Told from the point of view of Nina’s daughter, Director Kathy Leichter, and featuring Nina’s husband, son, sister, and grandchildren, HERE ONE DAY follows this family from 2004 to 2008 as they attempt to make sense of what happened and go on with their lives. …
While HERE ONE DAY is about mental illness and suicide, all too common experiences that remain alarmingly taboo and dreadfully need more public discussion, it is also about holding on and letting go, the ever-changing parent/child relationship, and how our emotional experiences, not just our biology, get passed down from one generation to the next.
If you want to contribute to the film’s completion, you can make a pledge at the Here One Day blog.
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