Ryder Film Festival welcomes ‘My Suicide’ Midwest premiere

“Don’t kill yourself, kill the part of yourself that’s all about you” was a message that stuck with junior Adam Johnson on Friday night at the Midwest premiere of “My Suicide.”

“I didn’t know what the movie was about. I just kept hearing it was about a kid wanting to make a documentary about killing himself,” he said. “I liked it a lot. That quote was the best part.”

“My Suicide,” a film compiling many different genres, including romance, drama and comedy, is about Archie Williams, who announces to his class that he will kill himself on camera for a class project.

The chaos that ensues and the relationship he makes with a girl takes the audience on Archie’s journey through a technology-obsessed society, therapy, parties, drugs, narcissism, and of course, suicide.

The film was screened for the first time in Bloomington on Friday at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts Theater.

A crowd of about 170 people, including the director David Lee Miller, was present for the showing of the fast-paced and media-fixated film.

Ed Schwartzman is responsible for bringing the film to Bloomington. The film premiered on the three year anniversary of the day that Schwartzman’s son took his own life. Schwartzman’s daughter, sophomore Hailey Schwartzman, was present Friday.

“For me it cleared up a lot of thoughts,” she said. “This isn’t a perfect world. There are a lot of stimuli, and a person can get very lost in the world. The movie sends a good message of how to find yourself.”

Hailey Schwartzman’s grandmother, Shirley Schwartzman, was also present. She travelled from New York to see the film.

“I was filled with angst and terrified to see this film,” she said. “Knowing that my granddaughter was going to be here gave me the strength to see it.”

At the end of the film, Miller invited the audience to pose questions about “My Suicide.”

“There were health professionals here with concern about the message the movie would send,” he said. “It hasn’t been our experience that the movie is like that. The film starts the conversation. It is about pain, narcissism, connecting and ultimately being born again.”

The movie screened again Saturday to a smaller crowd. However, Ed Schwartzman said he is confident that next weekend’s screenings will pull in a bigger audience. He also said he is grateful to the Ryder for making the film a part of the Ryder Film Festival.

Lead actor, producer and editor Gabriel Sunday will be present at next week’s Friday and Saturday film screenings.

“I understand people are busy and have lives to lead,” Schwartzman said. “I hope that people that have seen the film will all become advocates so that when the film premieres in February, there will be people waiting in line to see it and not because of a $50 million ad campaign, but because a friend of a friend told them.”

Miller said his goal is to let more people know what kind of film they’ll be experiencing when they view “My Suicide.”

“There might be a lot of people who won’t come because they think it’s a public service announcement,” Miller said. “People dig the movie. There’s a suicide prevention component to it, but it’s a cool film.”