On a gloomy winter trip to help her father prepare their ancestral beach house for sale, little Isla illuminates some of the darkness that haunts the family tree.

Director’s Vision for ‘The Third Bedroom’

My father’s sister was an extremely vibrant, loving, wild and unique human who was failed by the mental health care system of the 1970s. She died by suicide in her early 20s.

I grew up hearing stories about the many animals she brought home, the music she introduced my dad to, the games she played with him, and most of all the immense support she gave him. As a child, she took note of his artistic abilities and paid him to make drawings, a talent which his parents weren’t taking the time to foster that ended up being his livelihood as an adult.

When he would tell me these stories, my father would often say “she would have loved you,” and this was very hard for me to process as a young child. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t be present to love me and he certainly wasn’t ready to explain it, but I could still sense the void that remained in my family after her departure.

My hope is that there’s an opportunity in this project to illuminate some of the darkness that suicide can leave in a family tree in a gentle and loving way.