Free show! The monthly Community Cinema Series, which previews PBS Independent Lens films prior to their release, takes a break from June through August. But we know how much you love the films and discussions, so Park Circle Films has partnered with other indie doc makers to keep this early-access series going all summer long.

Charlotte Anderson, VP of 2-1-1 Services of Trident United Way, will be the facilitator for discussion following the film.  The 2-1-1 Hotline is a crisis center in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network.

Don’t Change the Subject is a darkly comic look at what happens when one man dares to ask questions about the dirtiest word in any language – suicide. No one seems to want to have a conversation about it. But what if we dig into it in a completely different way?

In this movie, Mike Stutz sets out to change the way we deal with the topic. He sits down with his own family, with suicide survivors and with the family and friends of others who have killed themselves to explore all the surreal thoughts and events that surround the act when you’re living through it. He also asks comics, artists, choreographers, musicians, animators, and even punk clowns (yes, there are punk clowns out there) to put their own unique spin on the subject. Don’t want to talk about it? Fine, how about dancing it? How about laughing at it? Or animating it, or singing about it, or whatever you feel like doing to get your feelings heard? The combination of responses is amazing. The stories are not what you’d expect. Teenagers dance to autopsy reports. A jumper gives tips on how to come out of a coma. A nervous stand up comic discovers that suicide is on the minds of his audience in ways that he never imagined. Apparently this suicide thing is not as isolated as you might think.