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Project title: The
Self-Made Man
Recipient Organization: Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention
Lead Artist: Susan Stern
Genre and Date Awarded: Media Arts, June 2003
To be Completed: December 2004
The Self-Made Man, a film, DVD, and educational
campaign, explores the philosophical and psychological issues behind
physician-assisted suicide
through the story of a terminally ill father who takes his own life. Two
collaborating organizations, the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention
and Grief Related Services (CESP) and the Bay Area Hemlock Chapter,
representing differing positions on suicide, will guide the artist’s
research.
The issue of physician-assisted suicide is now facing several state legislatures
and appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Self-Made Man views
the issue through the story of filmmaker Susan Stern’s own family. On Independence
Day 2001, Bob Stern, 77, a “self-made” businessman and solar energy
pioneer, made a 50-minute videotape explaining his decision to kill himself rather
than be treated for terminal illness. Ms. Stern’s mother and brother tried
to stop him, but did not succeed. Ms. Stern was not present.
The Self-Made Man will be a family drama shot in 16 mm film, but each
narrative turn will explore the broader issues. Key among them is the disturbing
trend of elderly suicide: American men over age 75 kill themselves 10 times
as frequently as older women, and white men over 75 have the nation’s highest suicide
rate—three times the teenage rate.
The Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention is a 16-year old nonprofit program
of the Institute on Aging, which is affiliated with the University of California
at San Francisco’s Center on Aging. CESP provides a 24-hour telephone
Friendship Line and home visits for troubled seniors. It also offers individual
and group suicide prevention and grief counseling and suicide intervention
workshops. The artist is attending meetings of both CESP and the Hemlock Society,
and CESP is arranging for her to talk to suicide grievers, attend suicide prevention
trainings, and discuss ideas with staff and clients.
When finished in 2004, The Self-Made Man will be shown at the CESP program
site, distributed to colleges, universities and public libraries, submitted to
film festivals, aired on public television and used by CESP and Hemlock for educating
families, students, and health and social services providers.
Susan Stern began her career as a poet. She worked as an investigative reporter
for 20 yeas and began making films in 1994. She was writer/producer/director
of Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour, an award-winning documentary about
the cult of the Barbie doll.
Filmography
Writer, Wild Again, feature screenplay; The Good Doctor,
short screenplay, 1999-2000
Writer, Director and Producer, Barbie Nation. 53-minute
documentary about the Barbie doll and its inventor Ruth Handler,
1994-98
Selected Festivals and Broadcasts (all for Barbie Nation)
PBS, (POV)
Television in France, Canada, Brazil, Poland, Germany, Israel, Slovenia, Norway,
the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Finland, Spain, Sweden, and Austria
San Francisco International Film Festival
South by Southwest Film Festival
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Singapore International Film Festival
New Zealand Film Festival
Milan-Bologna Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Work Experience
Promotion Director, New Day Films, distribution cooperative of social issue
filmmakers, 2000-02
Television Writer, Producer, KPIX-TV, San Francisco, CBS Affiliate, 1992-94
Reporter, The Oakland Tribune, 1985-92
Reporter, The Daily Democrat, The Valley Times, 1981-85
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