About this project

I need your help to make the 10th Anniversary DVD of the award winning documentary film "Daughter of Suicide" a reality! My goal is to produce a DVD with never before seen footage and special features. But producing a DVD is costly and the idea is to bring this project to you, the audience, the suicide prevention field and survivors of suicide, to ask for help covering the costs.

Your gift results in a free copy of the DVD -- it's like pre-paying for your copy!

"Daughter of Suicide" premiered in 2000. At the time of its premiere, there were over 30,000 suicides every year in the United States. Ten years later there are still over 30,000 suicides every year in the United States. You can do the math... that's over 300,000 suicides in the past ten years! Every suicide has an impact on individuals, families and communities -- hundreds of thousands of "survivors of suicide" are created every year -- millions have lost someone to suicide in the past ten years.

My mother killed herself in October of 1987. "Daughter of Suicide" tells my story of survival, but it reflects the journey of many other survivors of suicide in the United States. I provide pieces to the complex puzzle that led to my mother's suicide, but in doing so I explore issues that are repeated time and time again in the lives of people who take their own lives.

Here are some of the great interviews I hope to include in the "Daughter of Suicide" 10th Anniversary DVD:

• An interview with filmmaker Dempsey Rice (that's me!) about the making of "Daughter of Suicide" and her life ten years later.

• An interview with Jerry and Elsie Weyrauch, survivor of their daughter's suicide and founders of SPAN USA.

• An interview with Susan Weyrauch, survivor of her sister's suicide (Jerry and Elsie's daughter).

• An interview with Sandy Martin, survivor of her son's suicide and founder of the Lifekeeper Foundation & Lifekeeper Memory Quilts. (Sandy passed away on April 1, 2006.)

•  An interview with Al and Mary Kleusner survivors of their son's suicide and their daughter's suicide and co-founders of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)

•  An interview with Kenya Napper Bello, survivor of her husband's suicide.

• An interview with Dierdre Duffy, survivor of her brother's suicide.

If you are interested in hearing more stories of surviving suicide, please help make the "Daughter of Suicide" 10th Anniversary DVD a reality.

To learn more about "Daughter of Suicide", please visit www.daughterofsuicide.com

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Reviews of and comments about "Daughter of Suicide":

"Dempsey, your ability to be that vulnerable and truthful in this [film], I think, is going to help many many people... I think you should be commended, it's a brilliant piece of work."

- Rosie O'Donnell

"Daughter deftly balances highly personal against larger mental health issues."

- Variety

"...viewers are in for an unforgettable 71 minutes."

- Video Business Magazine

"Daughter of Suicide documents a seemingly archetypal family in which one person dies by suicide, but all pay the price. Excellently and courageously made by first time producer, director and writer Dempsey Rice, 'Daughter of Suicide' delves unflinchingly into the heart and soul of suicide to show, in very real terms, the cost of our society's tendency to keep mental instability behind closed doors. Everyone in America should see this picture."

- Russ Spencer, IFILM.net

"One cannot help but be deeply moved watching 'Daughter of Suicide.' But it goes beyond good dramatic television, by providing important public education about a life and death issue. Any person contemplating suicide who is fortunate enough to see 'Daughter of Suicide' will almost surely have second thoughts. And that could be life-saving."

- Dr. Fred Goodwin, Director of the Psychopharmacology Research Center at George Washington University Medical Center; Former Head of the NIMH

"Dempsey Rice's autobiographical documentary, 'Daughter of Suicide', is presented with such passion and honesty that the viewer will truly understand the emotional process one goes through as a survivor of suicide."

- Patrick Cody, Vice President, Communications National Mental Health Association

"Daughter of Suicide is a profound, insightful and real look into depression, mental illness and suicide. This is an important film that a wide audience needs to see. I'm thrilled that it had its world premiere here, in Santa Barbara. I love it, it's amazing!"

- Chris Gilmer, Director of Programming Santa Barbara International Film Festival

"Thank-you Dempsey Rice for making this important film. Thank-you for braving to talk about the unspeakable."

E.M., Victoria, BC Canada

"Your documentary was so true and touching."

L.L., Los Angeles, CA USA

"I want to commend you on your documentary. It took a lot of courage for you and your family to share your lives so publicly. I lost my seventeen year old son to suicide in 1989 and since then have been actively involved with suicide survivors. I have three young ladies who lost a parent to suicide and when they viewed your video they found it very helpful. Thanks again for your courage and honesty. We desperately need to hear from sons and daughters."

M.N., Windsor, ON Canada

"I ordered your movie after someone had recommended it to me from a group that I was in. I want to thank you for your courage to make such a film. It was so touching and powerful. Like you, my mother committed suicide when I was 18. Her first attempt was before I as before I was born. I totally related to your story in so many ways. ... My heart and soul went out to you with such compassion while I was watching your film because those feelings are so real for me too. ..."

H.A., Manhattan Beach, CA USA

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