The Girl on the Bridge is showing tonight at Central Cinema, with the aim of helping us understand more about suicide and our support role as a community.

The Girl on the Bridge is a Kiwi documentary that premiered to sell-out crowds at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland.

The film tells the story of Jazz Thornton, a 22-year old film school graduate who lost her close friend Jess to suicide, and who is now a mental health activist.

It documents her journey to overcome her own suicidal past, to help others with their struggles and the personal cost of her advocacy.

It is a glimpse into a world hard for some of us to comprehend, and a response to our collective anguish about the suicide crisis in our communities and our spoken desire to “do something”.

The goal of the film, and the social impact campaign that Jazz developed to accompany it, is to increase everyone’s understanding about what it is to be suicidal and what we can do to help, promote a culture where suicide is okay to talk about and to empower us all to make change – we are part of the solution.

The film has been made available to community cinemas as a way to kick off constructive discussions about the role that each and every one of us can play in how we respond to the mental well-being of everyone in our communities.

Jazz out and about filming the documentary.

Puna Rangatahi youth development practitioner Sharleen Stirling-Lindsay said two of the Central Otago Youth Council members sat on the Central Cinema committee as youth representatives. 

When the results of the Puna Rangatahi youth survey came out, showing mental health issues ranked as one of the highest concerns our young people have, they started looking at ways to support young people with ways to start having conversations, good research and information.

“The Girl on the Bridge was perfect timing as it became available for communities to use and share positive mental health messages.”

Many resources have been created to work alongside the film, including the website Jessica’s Tree.

Jessica’s Tree is a web series, one of the resources Jazz Thornton hopes will help to build bridges between those who are suicidal and those around them who can help.

The Girl on the Bridge screens at 7pm tonight at Central Cinema. Entry is by koha donation for school age, and $10 for adults.

Images from jessicastreee.com

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