Scattering CJ - The Loss of One Becomes The Journey of Many

The following statement was shared by Hallie Twomey

on April 5, 2019 on her Facebook page

 

"I feel like I should stand on the rooftop and yell, “WE INTERRUPT THIS REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE.”

Just received the SCATTERING CJ film poster.

I knew it was close to being finished but it still took my breath away.

It’s awesome.

Makes me smile and want to cry.

I love that they used a search engine format for the title.

Without the ability to reach and connect with people online, SCATTERING CJ wouldn’t be what it is today.

Feeling so many feels that it’s hard to stay still.

What a journey this has been. (And continues to be).

Don’t forget to check out the film website and share it far and wide.

Something positive needs to come from this film. Even one less person following in CJ’s footsteps is a victory."

www.scatteringcjthemovie.com

When seemingly happy, travel-infatuated CJ Twomey violently ended his own life at age 20, 

his family was plunged into unrelenting grief and guilt. In a moment of desperate inspiration, 

his mother Hallie put out an open call on Facebook, looking only for a handful of travelers 

who might help fulfill her son's wish to see the world by scattering some of his ashes in 

a place of beauty or special meaning.

Twenty-one thousand strangers liked the Facebook page, and one thousand volunteers 

have since taken CJ to over one hundred countries. While crisscrossing the globe, 

his ashes and his family’s story have given rise to a social media phenomenon — 

a worldwide community — that has congregated in solidarity and empathy in dealing 

with a still heavily stigmatized and misunderstood form of mental illness.

Aggregating hundreds of clips chronicling personal ash-scattering pilgrimages worldwide, 

combined with intimate interviews and vérité filmmaking, Hallie’s story — one that 

has cross-pollinated and traveled so organically, resonantly, inspirationally — shows us 

that social media can act as a connector and a vehicle for empathy, as opposed to 

the more toxic aspects of social media interaction we're currently witnessing. 

Her story further illustrates how there can be positive action grown from suicide, 

and that even if it isn't reliably predictable, it just may in some cases be preventable.

​

Scattering CJ is scheduled for release in 2019.

 

~*~ CJ Twomey ~*~