- published: 08 Oct 2012
- views: 229646
The Bridge is a 2006 documentary film by Eric Steel that consists of the results of one year's filming of the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004, which captured a number of suicides, and additional filming of family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge. The film was inspired by an article titled "Jumpers", written by Tad Friend, that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 2003.
Steel interviewed relatives and friends of the suicide victims, not informing them that he had footage of their loved ones' deaths. He claimed that "All the family members now, at this point, have seen the film, [and are] glad that they had participated in it."
The project was kept a secret in order to avoid a situation where someone would "get it into his or her head to go to the bridge and immortalize him or herself on film". During the filming, one person jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge every 15 days on average.
The documentary caused significant controversy when bridge officials charged Steel with misleading them about his intentions. He secured a permit to film the bridge for months and captured 23 of 24 known suicides that took place during the filming phase of the project. In his permit application to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a government agency that does not have any jurisdiction over the bridge but that does manage nearby park areas, Steel said he intended "to capture the powerful, spectacular intersection of monument and nature that takes place every day at the Golden Gate Bridge".
Actors: Mark Borchardt (actor), Kumar Pallana (actor), Frankie Latina (actor), Christian Kocinski (producer), Nick Sommer (actor), Christian Kocinski (editor), Frankie Latina (producer), Kelly Cunningham (actress), Kelly Cunningham (producer), Sean Williamson (editor), Sean Williamson (actor), Sean Williamson (producer), Sean Williamson (writer), Sean Williamson (director), Marissa Nans (actress),
Genres: Drama,Uncle Jack, when i look back, sent a lot down to me. my mom would say we both seemed to be the life of the party. he was a picker, and a drinker. he took one step over the edge. a drinker, and he ended up with some debt i guess. nobody knows what really happened. the river was swollen when they found him in it, and it rained all weekend on the bridge leaving town. this is how i see it. this is not something i was told. i envisioned it to be dark, wet, and cold. if he jumped, or if he fell, no one knows. but ive got a different picture for each one of those. i was a baby. and we never really met, its really sad, i guess. he was a musician, just like his nephew and if he couldve i wouldve wanted him to teach me. but all i ever got from him, Uncle Jack, was his need to stop drinking.