Documentary film investigates suicide 'epidemic' in Nepal

Photo courtesy: girlworldproject.org

Why is suicide becoming the newest epidemic in Nepal? What is going wrong? These are the questions a documentary film currently nearing the end of production in the US, tries to answer.

In 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much', filmmaker Amy Benson, devoted to telling complicated stories which reflect universal themes, by illuminating the personal, follows the life and death of a Nepali girl.

"The ‘star’ of the film is Shanta Darnal, a charismatic and fiercely intelligent 15- year-old girl from the deep hinterlands, of untouchable caste, who promised she would become a doctor, return to her village, and teach the girls and women there how not to have so many kids," said Benson, who came in contact with Darnal in Nepal in 2008.

But after a year, she learned that Shanta had hanged herself. “I was devastated, and then was utterly shocked to learn that in the last 10 years, suicide has become the number one cause of death among girls and women of childbearing age in Nepal," Benson says.

“This is a film about the big forces of globalisation, and how they play out in the lives of the most vulnerable people.”

The film, which is now gathering funds through Kickstarter, is expected to be released in Fall 2013. nepalnews.com