By 2009, Don Ritchie had officially prevented 160 people from taking their own lives at a cliff near his house in Sydney. He did this by taking the time to talk and listen to people in need. As filmmakers, we are inspired by Don's work and believe that we can all do something to reduce the rate of suicide in Australia.

KEEP ME SAFE TONIGHT is a ½ hour documentary that is in development in association with the ABC. The project was conceived by a team of passionate young filmmakers who want to start a mature conversation about suicide – a subject that has been stigmatized for too long.

Every ten minutes, someone in Australia attempts to take their own life, and the effects of each attempt are traumatic and far reaching. In KEEP ME SAFE TONIGHT, three Australians take us to the heart of the tragedy. A young man who had once attempted suicide candidly recounts his journey to the brink and back while a telephone crisis counsellor must find the right words to convince another person to live. As lives hang in the balance, a suicide bereavement counsellor helps to pick up the pieces for the families of those who don't make it back. Unfolding over the course of a day, the three extraordinary stories reveal the startling reality of this national tragedy. Honest, raw and unafraid, KEEP ME SAFE TONIGHT asks the big question: what can society do keep each other safe?

When we first started this filmmaking journey, we thought we knew how big of a problem suicide is in Australia. You hear it on the news when someone famous dies, or when extended family whispers the news at functions, or it happened to a friend of a friend of a friend. However, when we were confronted with the raw statistics we were shocked at the extent of the problem.

Furthermore, researchers believe that the national figures on deaths by suicide may be 20% – 30% under-reported due to complex reasons including reporting protocols, burden of proof for coroners and social/cultural stigma. ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾ All this amounts to 6 deaths by suicide each day, and for each death there are 30 attempts.⁽³⁾

How can such a widespread public health issue stay in the shadows of the national discussion? We’ve all been taught the dangers of speeding and the harmful effects of the sun’s UV rays but have we been educated enough on mental health and suicide, which claim more lives (2,359 in 2010)⁽⁴⁾ than road accidents (1,367)⁽⁵⁾ and skin cancer (1,897)?⁽⁴⁾

A lot of social stigma is attached to mental health and suicide. This means many people who are suffering feel too ashamed to seek help from friends, family and professional services. The stigma has also led to a lack of broad public understanding of the issue. To educate ourselves, we discussed our idea to make this film with organisations working in the field of suicide and mental health. Through our research with them, we quickly realised that like road accidents and skin cancer, suicide is preventable. By exploring this issue through the eyes of people who are very close to it, we hope our film can play a part in destigmatising mental health and suicide as well as encourage our viewers to consider ways in which they can contribute to suicide prevention on an individual level.

We are all very aware of the sensitive nature of the topic. To ensure our film is mature and socially responsible, we are working closely to the Mindframe guidelines and we will be consulting with suicide prevention experts along every step of the way.

The idea for the title of our film came to us after we spent a night researching at a crisis support call centre. One of the phone supporters said to a caller: “my job is to keep you safe tonight.” 

Filmmaking is an expensive process and finding the money to make films is extremely challenging. The filmmakers behind KEEP ME SAFE TONIGHT believe this story must be told and we have already invested a large sum of our own money into the film.

We are very close to securing the rest of the financing for the film, however we are facing a critical shortfall of $10,000 to cover the post production costs of the film. This includes the editing, colour grading and sound mixing.

We have worked very hard to get the project to this stage. This is the final hurdle to getting this on the screen. With your help, we can make this happen!

We believe the most important reward for our supporters is the fact that the film will make meaningful contributions towards an open discussion about one of the great public health concerns facing society today.

We also want to share the film with our supporters so every donation of $50 or more will get you a copy of the finished film (after the show has been broadcast). Furthermore, the higher donations will get you the unique opportunity to observe some of the key creative processes during post production.

The documentary has been developed in partnership with the ABC – Australia’s public broadcaster. In order for the film to be broadcast on the ABC, we must comply with the ABC’s editorial policies. This means all funding sources must be transparent and we require every supporter to follow a few simple rules:

1. You must use your full name when donating (please do not donate anonymously or use a fake name).

2. Your donation must come from a personal desire to support the project/filmmakers and must not be politically or commercially motivated. We will confirm this with you by asking you to fill out a very quick survey after you have donated.

3. The donation must not come from organisations, lobby groups or campaigns working in the area of suicide prevention as such funds could be perceived as undermining the independence of the documentary. However if you are someone who works for such an organization, you can donate on a personal basis (as long as you are not donating on behalf of your organization).

REFERENCES

(1) De Leo, D, Dudley, M, Aebersold, C, Mendoza, J, Barnes, M, Ranson, D and Harrison, J. (2010) Achieving standardised reporting of suicide in Australia: rationale and program for change, MJA: 192 (8) 452-456.

(2) Large, MM and Nielssen, OB (2010).Suicide in Australia: meta-analysis of rates and methods of suicide between 1988 and 2007.eMJA; 192 (8): 432-437.

(3) Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2007 (Unpublished data). Canberra.

(4) Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), Cause of Death, Australia, 2010. Canberra.

(5) Department of Infrastructure and Transport (2012), Road Deaths Australia 2011 Statistical Summary. Canberra.