The Girl Next Door
This is a film about hope. It’s a film about redemption. The Girl Next Door is a challenge to all of us to try to understand.
The Girl Next Door is a feature documentary directed by award winning New Zealand filmmaker Leanne Pooley. It is a glimpse into a world few of us comprehend and a response to our collective anguish about the suicide crisis in our communities and our desire to “do something”.
Twenty-two year old Jazz Thornton survived multiple suicide attempts and is now taking on a system she believes is failing her generation. After founding her own charity to support young people struggling as she once did, she’s put herself through film school to learn the skills she needs to communicate. She tells stories about survivors who have been through hell and made it back. But not everyone makes it and although Jazz has survived she’s lost a lot of friends, including sixteen-year-old Jess. Jess’s death was painful and potentially catastrophic for Jazz and in The Girl Next Door she navigates the same feelings of guilt and grief that anyone touched by suicide endures.
The Girl Next Door is the story of a young woman with the weight of a generation on her shoulders. Having survived her own struggles and dealing with the loss of her friend Jazz has irrefutable insight into a subject society has only begun to grapple with.