Indie director sets film about suicide in Seattle | Arts & Culture

In 2001 Julio Ramirez watched as drivers encouraged a woman to jump from the Ship Canal bridge. Police had closed I-5 so that they could try to talk her down, backing up traffic.

Ramirez had just been hospitalized for a serious medical condition: “I was fighting for my life, and to see somebody try to terminate their life was a little bit shocking. They (drivers) were asking her to jump.”

In his native Colombia, Ramirez had lost a childhood friend to suicide, but no one talked about it.

It was different here. Seattle's Aurora Bridge has the second-highest number of suicides in the nation, and, at the time, the city had among the nation's highest suicide rate. Thousands had gathered to mourn Kurt Cobain, who shot himself in 1994.

Seattleites were ready to talk about suicide, and Ramirez was eager to listen. The result is his independent film, “Nothing Against Life,” which starts shooting this week and will include locations in Queen Anne, the University District, and Capitol Hill.

Set in Capitol Hill

The story follows four strangers who are considering taking their own lives. Much of the film takes place in Capitol Hill, where the characters live. It's a neighborhood where four very different people could live just a few streets away from each other and never know they shared the same self-destructive impulse, Ramirez said.
 
“When we leave our homes, we leave a big chunk of who we area are,” he said.

To write the film, Ramirez interviewed people who had attempted suicide and created a character based one of them.  He also consulted mental health professionals on the characters, one of whom is played by Cynthia Geary, who is known for her role as Shelly Tambo on Northern Exposure.

The setting is no coincidence; Seattle is a suicide city. King County has one suicide for every business day, Ramirez said. Most people don’t realize how frequently others try to take their lives because media outlets only report cases that disrupt traffic or cause some other widespread impact.

“The ultimate taboo”

The idea is to avoid prompting copycats, but Ramirez believes the media blackout on suicide also has an unintended effect of perpetuating its social stigma. Stories of crimes of sex and violence are abundant, but those who take their own lives don’t often make headlines.

“Sex, has been dealt with, but not death. It’s still like the ultimate taboo.”

Few investors wanted to finance a film about the subject of suicide, and the financial crisis hasn’t helped, Ramirez said. He’s still raising funds for the film’s production.

Real Seattle

Most films shot in Seattle show the iconic Space Needle, but Ramirez wanted the films to evoke the places where real lives play out, in coffee shops and on the streets, at Snoqualmie Falls and the University of Washington, inside St. Mark’s Cathedral, and aboard a houseboat.  

“The whole city has come together to help us,” he said.

If you want to be among them, there are still spaces open for extras in a scene in St. Mark’s Cathedral. Find out more by visiting the film’s web site.