Fred Camper's 'Suicide Note' Gets True Premiere at New York Film Festival After 50 Years

Fred Camper's 'Suicide Note,' filmed primarily in New York from 1976 to 1984, had its technical debut at this year's New York Film Festival, nearly 50 years after Camper initiated the project as an artist, filmmaker, and critic. The Chicago Film Society undertook the restoration, maintaining the film's original 16mm format instead of converting it to digital. Camper characterizes the film as stemming from profound personal despair and a wish to illustrate a failure of the self, rooted in his sorrow over his stepfather's suicide, his own struggles with depression, and a perceived symbolic demise of humanity. Prior to this, 'Suicide Note' had only been shown a few times using workprints, making the NYFF screening its true premiere and allowing new viewers a genuine introduction to the film.