When Sally Heckel was 17, her father, Dr. George Heckel, climbed the stairs to the attic of the family home in Rochester, New York, and shot himself. He had a thriving medical practice, a wife and three children, and a beautiful home. Four months later, Sally went off to college, leaving the scene of the tragedy, but taking with her the wounds left by years of her father’s depression and his eventual suicide. For years Sally pursued life as a filmmaker, not realizing how she was burdened by her father’s death. Twenty years after his death, fresh off an Academy Award nomination, and after visiting a therapist for the first time, she started making a non-fiction film, Unspeakable, exploring her father’s despondent state of mind and the events surrounding his suicide. In a panel discussion following the screening, Heckel is joined by child psychiatrists Dr. Lenore Engel and Dr.Nancy Rappaport and adult psychiatrist Dr. Michael Myers to talk about the impact of depression and suicide on childhood development and the challenges of managing the grieving process for teenagers dealing with significant life transitions. They also discuss the stigma of mental illness and how it interfered in the healing process for Heckel, her extended family, and her father.
Unrated