Hello and welcome! Thank you for visiting.
I'm an independent filmmaker and Unspeakable is my recently finished film.
My home was a solemn one when I was in junior high and high school. My sister and brother were away at college, and I was by myself with my parents. My father was depressed, and neither my mother nor I understood it or knew how to handle it.
Then, when I was seventeen, my father killed himself. I didn't talk about it for over twenty years, and when I finally did, I decided to make a film about it.
I embarked on a powerful process of filmmaking and discovery. My father became a more whole and vulnerable person. At first my voice faltered whenever I spoke of him, eventually I was able to narrate the film.
Unspeakable is the story of me and my family putting our lives back together. It has home movies, actors, photos, drawings, paintings, trees, water, everything with which to tell the story. It's about the process of trying to understand and free oneself from the terrible legacy of having a loved one commit suicide.
People rarely talk about suicide. Unspeakable is my effort to speak about it. I hope it is meaningful to those of you who have lost loved ones in this way. And I hope it shines some light on a course through the pain.
Unspeakable probes the universal relationship between father and daughter, parents and children. Those who haven't experienced suicide close to them find resonance with the film as well.
Sincerely,
Sally HeckelHOME