The Cinematheque

Vancouver Premiere

“A poignant story of two sisters … and also a revealing look at the perils of personal filmmaking … Devastatingly sad but ultimately redeeming.”

Tom Roston, Salon

Six years after Ruth Litoff’s suicide in 2008, her younger sister Hope finally feels ready to face what was left behind: a storage locker full of artwork, photographs, diaries, personal effects, and half-empty prescription-pill bottles. In attempting to answer the unanswerable—why?—Hope pores over Ruth’s belongings, desperate to understand why her sister—a brilliant artist; beautiful, admired, popular; someone who seemed to excel at everything—would want to die. As the layers under Ruth’s vivacious exterior are exposed (a bipolar diagnosis at 16; debilitating self-doubt; numerous, crippling depressions), Hope is forced to face some difficult truths of her own, and returns to alcohol after 16 years of sobriety.

Post-screening discussion with Dammy Damstrom Albach, Program Manager at the Community Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Training Project

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia