For Anybody Hurting: A YouTube Video Confronts Darkness

On June 6, 2011, Eric Lim received a phone call from his older sister, Tanya. She wanted to apologize for an argument they'd had when she visited Los Angeles a few months before, but as Lim began to lecture her, Tanya cut him off.

"Eric, I just want you to know I love you very much, and I'm so proud of you," she told him. "You're going to do great in the film industry, I know it."

Lim, tired from having just moved across town, didn't think much of his sister's withdrawal. Later that day, he received another call — this time from his father in Chicago.

"We've lost your sister," he said. Tanya had committed suicide.

The phone call was her way of saying goodbye, and in her suicide note, she reiterated support for her little brother's dreams. She also left him her savings of $25,000, which she hoped could help him in his filmmaking aspirations.

Lim would eventually take this as an opportunity to speak directly to a generation of young people — the YouTube generation — dealing with depression and looking for support through digital media. He embarked on a film project to help foster online discussion about mental health, to honor his sister's memory and help prevent others from taking their lives. Read more…