Premieres Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022 at 10:30 p.m. on KPBS TV / On demand now with the PBS Video App
Editor's Note: This story contains sensitive content. If you or someone you know is in crisis call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for 24/7 support 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
"Scattering CJ" is the story of broken- hearted mom Hallie Twomey’s mission to do one final, amazing thing for her elder son CJ following his suicide. She put a singular call out to the world on Facebook: a request to honor her son’s memory and love of travel by helping scatter his ashes in as many places of beauty and meaning as possible. That call launched an initiative called Scattering CJ.
Hallie's request resonated beyond her wildest dreams. It galvanized a global community via social media that would scatter CJ’s ashes in thousands of different locations, creating a vast archive of stunning imagery and moving testimony.
But it would cause thousands more—many affected by suicide or mental illness—to come together online to support each other and encourage Hallie to become a community leader in the fight to raise awareness and end the silence and stigma that has contributed to escalating rates of suicide year after year.
Employing hundreds of clips chronicling ash-scattering pilgrimages worldwide, combined with intimate interviews and vérité filmmaking, "Scattering CJ" explores the devastating effects of suicide as well as the extraordinary generosity of strangers and one troubled family's attempt to find peace.
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Credits:
Written, Produced and Directed by: Andrea Kalin. Production Company: Spark Media. Producer: David Lobatto. Composer: Ceiri Torjussen.
