MOSAIC Film Festival presents suicide awareness for theme

Suicide awareness and prevention will be the primary topics addressed during this year’s MOSAIC Film Festival.

“Celebrate Life: Suicide Prevention Film and Theatre Festival” will be from 10:15 a.m to 3:30 p.m April 13 at the Monroe County Public Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave.
Each year, Diversity Theatre puts on the event to address important social issues within the community.

The event was created in 2007, and this year’s topic of suicide prevention was chosen because suicide has become a major concern for young adults.

Babita Upadahyay, this year’s chair of the MOSAIC Film Festival planning committee, said the committee learned through research that suicide is the third leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds and the second leading cause of death for college-aged adults. The featured film, “A Cry for Help,” is a documentary that addresses teenage mental illness and suicide.

There will also be a panel discussion, a theater workshop, a presentation and an information fair following the film that will further address the topic.

The event has occurred annually in Bloomington since Diversity Theatre was first founded here in 1984, according to its website. Its mission statement reads “Diversity Theatre exists to create awareness of discrimination and inequality in race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, aging and homelessness.”

Upadahyay said the topic of suicide prevention was picked because it falls under the umbrella of mental illness, another important issue that Diversity Theatre wants to address.
As the Indiana State Suicide Prevention plan brochure states, “Suicide is a complex problem, resulting from a combination of biological, psychological, environmental, social and cultural factors.”

The MOSAIC Film Festival is a joint venture program between Diversity Theatre and IU’s Commission on Multicultural Understanding. Meadows Hospital, another partner of the event, is sponsoring a 5K walk and run at 8 a.m. the same day on the B-line trail at College Avenue.

The city of Bloomington, Monroe County Public Library, Delta Sigma Theta, Monroe County Suicide Prevention Coalition and The Jason Foundation are also sponsoring the event.

“We are hoping to see anyone who is interested and wants to learn something about mental health,” Upadahyay said.