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32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide

Wednesday, March 21, 2018 – 7:30pm
USA 2017. Dir: Hope Litoff. 90 min. DCP

VANCOUVER PREMIERE! Six years after Ruth Litoff’s suicide in 2008, her younger sister Hope finally feels ready to face what was left behind: a storage locker full of artwork, photographs, diaries, personal effects, and half-empty prescription-pill bottles. In attempting to answer the unanswerable — why? — Hope pores over Ruth’s belongings, desperate to understand why her sister — a brilliant artist; beautiful, admired, popular; someone who seemed to excel at everything — would want to die. As the layers under Ruth’s vivacious exterior are exposed (a bipolar diagnosis at 16; debilitating self-doubt; numerous, crippling depressions), Hope is forced to face some difficult truths of her own, and returns to alcohol after 16 years of sobriety. “A poignant story of two sisters … and also a revealing look at the perils of personal filmmaking … Devastatingly sad but ultimately redeeming” (Tom Roston, Salon).

Post-screening discussion with Dammy Damstrom Albach, Program Manager at the Community Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training Project.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

Co-sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association, B.C. Division.

 

 

 

REVIEWS

“Docs rarely get more personal than this … It will certainly resonate deeply with anyone who has struggled with depression or addiction or loved anyone who has.”

Hollywood Reporter | full review

 

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