It was only a few weeks ago that 19-year-old Abraham K. Biggs committed suicide in front of hundreds of viewers on the livestreaming video site Justin.tv, yet New York based filmmaker Jonathan Parisen has already begun shooting a film based the tragic event.

Although the film, tentatively titled “Watch Me Die,” will be inspired by what took place at Biggs’ Miami home, its story will ultimately be fictitious. In it, Parisen will show his perspective of the circumstances by placing some blame on the audience members who encouraged the teenager to take his life. This perspective is based on Parisen’s own experience with cruelty on the Internet. “I consider it to be the bully’s new playground,” he says. “I myself have experienced the nastyness of those on the internet so I know just how mean a place it can be.” The film will also be a testament to the seriousness of depression, which Parisen also speaks about on a personal level. “I have dealt with my own issues with depression and I know firsthand how much it hurts,” he says. Parisen strongly believes that people suffering from depression should be taken seriously and be given psychiatric help.

Parisen is also fascinated by the obsession with fame that leads people to do crazy and sometimes dangerous things. “Although the teenager who took his life in Florida was obviously mentally ill,” says Parisen, “I believe he had fame in mind when he took his life the way that he did.”

This is obviously no ordinary story, and neither is the film’s production. The entire movie will be shot using web cams, and the online witnesses to the suicide will be played by actors and actresses across the country who have submitted self-made footage for the project. Parisen, who used Craigslist to solicit the footage, has gotten an overwhelming response from people who want to be a part of the film. “This is the first time I have reached out to such a diverse amount of people to take part in one of my films. This will probably be the largest cast from so many different places around the country that I have ever had the opportunity to work with.”

It’s an experimental process for sure, but one that seems eerily appropriate given the storyline: user-generated videostreams enable a suicide to be broadcast, and the movie about the broadcast will be partly user-generated as well. The film will be a fascinating outcome on many levels. The project in itself takes life’s imitation of art and vice versa to the n-th degree. But beyond that, Parisen’s heartfelt message about the seriousness of depression and the sometimes cruel arena of the Internet just may do it’s part in making our world wide web a kinder and gentler place.

The film is set to be released in early 2009.

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