(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Actress and mental health advocate Mariel Hemingway will discuss suicide, mental illness and the stigma attached to both in conjunction with a screening of the documentary film about the Hemingway family, “Running From Crazy,” at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, March 28, 2015, at 2pm, in a co-presentation by the Erikson Institute for Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center along with the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF).
“Running from Crazy” is a 2013 documentary film by director Barbara Kopple about the family of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway. It was shown at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Through the eyes of Mariel Hemingway, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in Woody Allen’s 1979 film “Manhattan,” and who has spoken for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, it chronicles the story of three of the author’s grandchildren — Mariel, Margaux Hemingway and Joan “Muffet” Hemingway, daughters of Jack Hemingway — and their struggles with the family history of substance abuse, mental illness and suicide.

Mariel comments early in the film on the fact that seven family members have committed suicide, including her grandfather Ernest and her sister Margaux. Ernest shot himself a few months before his granddaughter Mariel was born.

The film includes excerpts from lengthy footage filmed by Margaux in 1983, called by a reviewer the “most riveting depictions of the Hemingway clan.” It demonstrates the contrast between the two sisters: Margaux’s modeling and acting career ultimately collapsed, and in 1996 she died of a drug overdose exactly 35 years after her grandfather killed himself, while Mariel’s early career was successful. In the documentary, Mariel describes her own experience with depression and thoughts of suicide, which she says she has overcome. She also talks of her difficulties in dealing with the mental illness of her sister Muffet, diagnosed with “bipolar schizophrenia.”

Kelley Vickery, founder and executive director of the Berkshire International Film Festival, remarked, “Film is a medium that connects and communicates with broad audiences in meaningful ways. ‘Running From Crazy’ is a beautiful example of the role film can play in opening a necessary dialogue and helping to de-stigmatize mental illness.”

Though the stigma surrounding mental illness persists, nowhere is it more evident than in its relationship with suicide. This event is a unique opportunity for community members to come together and join in a discussion about the stigma surrounding mental illness and suicide and open up a broad dialogue about what we, as a community, can do to help understand and provide support to those dealing either directly or indirectly with mental health issues.

The event will include a talk by Mariel Hemingway, the screening of “Running From Crazy,” and a roundtable discussion following the film. “I think that everybody has some part of my story as their story,” stated Mariel Hemingway in a recent HuffPost Live interview. “If I have the courage to open up and talk about mental illness, addiction and suicide, it can open a door for people to have a discussion about this. And the more we talk about it, the less stigma there will be.”

Tickets can be purchased online at the Erikson Institute for Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center and from Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF).
For questions or more information, call [413] 931.5274

Renaissance woman Mariel Hemingway is not only an iconic Academy Award-nominated actor from a celebrated family, she is a prolific author, adventurist, eco-activist, healthy lifestyle and mental health advocate, a yoga video star, an entrepreneur and a much sought after speaker focused on mind-body-spirit optimization and purposeful living.