'My Suicide' to screen at SoFA

Plans to bring the film “My Suicide” to Bloomington was an effort by part-owner of Buffa Louie’s Ed Schwartzman, who lost his son, Ben, to suicide three years to the day of the film premiere on Oct. 15.

Since his son’s death, Schwartzman has spent time promoting the recording of his son’s music.

Described as a romantic, coming-of-age comedy-drama, the film tells the story of Archibald Holden Buster Williams, his media obsession, the girl he loves and the chaos that ensues when he announces to his class he will film his own death.

“We wanted to be completely, brutally honest about how people are these days and not sugarcoat it,” lead actor, writer and editor Gabriel Sunday said. “I think young people’s bullshit meter is really low these days — they can sense when they’re not being told the truth.”

Plans to bring the movie to Bloomington began after part-owner of Buffa Louie’s Ed Schwartzman contacted Miller.

Through a chance message from a stranger on Facebook, Schwartzman clicked on a link to the film’s website, mysuicide.net, and contacted Miller and Sunday.

“I thought it was someone playing a horrible joke,” Schwartzman said. “You never know with the Internet these days what it could be. But curiosity got the best of me, and I was drawn in immediately.”

Miller, who had been looking for an appropriate town in which to screen the film, began working with Schwartzman to bring the film to Bloomington.

It is now being shown as part of the Ryder Film Festival.

“Schwartzman guided us, it was very serendipitous,” Miller said. “Bloomington is perfect. It’s young, hip and there are 45,000 college students. We’re excited.”

In addition to touching on a heavy subject matter, the film also brings a voice to a generation that director David Lee Miller calls connected, yet still disconnected.

“It’s an exciting time to be young,” Miller said. “I think this is the first time a generation has ever been better and smarter than their parents at things like business, computers and communication skills. I think kids deserve respect for their achievements, but a lot of kids get the opposite. They are told they have it easy.”

Miller, Sunday and Schwartzman each said they believe the film starts the conversation on a topic that is usually taboo.

“There are some suicide experts that still refer to suicide as the ‘s-word,’” Miller said. “We hope the film will start controversy and shatter the silence.”

Schwartzman said “My Suicide” is a film everyone needs to see. He also said if his son had seen “My Suicide,” he believes there might be a chance he would be alive today.

“There’s nothing I can do to bring my son back,” Schwartzman said. “But if I were the last father to lose his son, that’s alright with me.”