HARRSIONBURG, Va. (Mennonite Mission Network) -- The 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston Film Festival recently announced that the Mennonite Media documentary, Fierce Goodbye: Living in the Shadow of Suicide, has received one of its top four levels of awards for documentaries, to be awarded in a ceremony April 30.
The hour-long program, aired originally on Hallmark Channel Aug. 22, 2004, to about 45,000 households, also recently received three other awards from various organizations. "Crystal Awards of Excellence" gave an award for programming in radio and TV production. It was named a winner in the "Broadcast/Cable Programs" division along with productions from ABC News (20/20), Cornerstone TeleVision, Cox Communications, Penn State Public Broadcasting and numerous local TV stations.
Fierce Goodbye earned a bronze "Telly" award as a finalist in The Telly Awards, which honors local, regional and cable television commercials and programs. Last year, the Telly Awards received over 10,000 entries. The program also won an "Angel" award from the "Religion in Media" organization.
Burton Buller, director of Mennonite Media, announced that the documentary is slated to be re-broadcast on Hallmark May 15, 12 noon ET/PT and 11 a.m. CT, and will air on NBC-TV as a special presentation of the National Council of Churches USA beginning May 22. Local NBC affiliates will have the option to air the program and will decide on the specific release time in the next six months. To find local channels, visit http://www.interfaithbroadcasting.com/ and type in your state.
"We are pleased that NBC will air the program since it greatly increases the audience for the documentary," said Buller, who produced the program on behalf of the Mennonite Church USA.
"This airing on NBC in the 'Horizons of the Spirit' series regularly draws more than 7 million households," said Buller, quoting from the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission through the National Council of Churches, the liaison between the three major television networks NBC, CBS and ABC and mainstream faith groups.
Hosted by folksinger Judy Collins, the program features family survivors of suicide who share personal stories of their trauma. Mental health experts such as Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.), talk about the stigma of mental illness and suicide. Theologians and biblical scholars spell out traditional views on what happens to the "soul" after suicide and how new knowledge about mental illness is changing some of those views. Several Mennonites are included in the program.
Visitors to the website for the Fierce Goodbye documentary continue to post lengthy and emotion-filled stories regarding loved ones who took their life or are struggling with a desire to live. These are posted at http://fiercegoodbye.com/?P=5 under "Stories."
