The Suicide of My Father | Documentary Idea

by Brady Van Patten
(Chicago)

It has been 9 years, coming up on the 10th anniversary of my father's suicide.

Okoboj, Iowa is a small town that gets eaten and over taken by tourists and thousands of families in the summer. It was where I spent my youth and I feel like the only area I truly felt happy growing up.

My mother was a stay at home mom, and my father worked for a large computer organization at the time which allowed us a vacation home in this gorgeous area.

But like most families, we had our secrets.

My father was a horrible alcoholic and drug abuser. He would many times get physical which forced me to grow up way too fast and carry my mother to get a divorce.

Jump to Christmas my sophmore year of high school attending a catholic school as a closeted gay male. My relationship with my very white, republic, alcoholic father was rocky to say the least.

Then suddenly the words, "guys, your dad killed himself" forever changed my life.

My father took his life in our family vacation home, a place I have yet to return to, nor have I ever visited his grave.

I think finally now after ten years I want to return this summer to my family's vacation town and cabin where a new family now enjoys.

But I do not want to do it alone.

Having moved to Chicago, being openly gay, I want to experience and investigate the last few days of my father.

I am looking for a documentary filmmaker to help document this event. Please contact me if interested. Thank you.

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