Eric Steel

Last updated

Eric Steel is an American filmmaker and producer, best known for his controversial 2006 documentary The Bridge .

Contents

Career

The Bridge

Steel's directorial debut was the 2006 documentary The Bridge . After reading about efforts to place a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world's most often used venues for suicide, he had the bridge filmed from multiple locations throughout 2004, to obtain footage of actual suicides. In obtaining permits to film the bridge, Steel did not reveal to bridge officials that his goal was to film people committing suicide. Instead he stated that his purpose was to make a film "exploring the beauty and mystique of the Golden Gate Bridge". A number of suicides were captured on film. The resulting footage was combined with interviews with family and friends of the victims, along with other witnesses.

Filmography

As producer

As director

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Gate Bridge</span> San Francisco Bay suspension bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. It also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California.

<i>Heavens Gate</i> (film) 1980 American Western film

Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film written and directed by Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, and Joseph Cotten. Loosely based on the Johnson County War, it revolves around a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Point National Historic Site</span> Fort in San Francisco, California

Fort Point, known historically as the Castillo de San Joaquín is a masonry seacoast fortification located on the southern side of the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It is also the geographic name of the promontory upon which the fort and the southern approach of the Golden Gate Bridge were constructed.

<i>It Came from Beneath the Sea</i> 1955 science fiction film directed by Robert Gordon

It Came from Beneath the Sea is a 1955 American science fiction monster horror film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, and Donald Curtis. The screenplay by George Worthing Yates was designed to showcase the stop motion animation special effects of Ray Harryhausen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Lipsett</span> Canadian collage filmmaker

Arthur Lipsett was a Canadian filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada. His short, avant-garde collage films, which he described as "neither underground nor conventional”, contain elements of narrative, documentary, experimental collage, and visual essay. His first film, Very Nice, Very Nice, was nominated for an Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide by jumping from height</span> Suicide method

Jumping from a dangerous location, such as from a high window, balcony, or roof, or from a cliff, dam, or bridge, is an often used suicide method in some countries. Many countries have noted suicide bridges such as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Other well known suicide sites for jumping include the Eiffel Tower and Niagara Falls. Nonfatal attempts in these situations can have severe consequences including paralysis, organ damage, and broken bones.

A suicide bridge is a bridge used frequently by people to end their lives, most typically by jumping off and into the water or ground below. A fall from the height of a tall bridge into water may be fatal, although some people have survived jumps from high bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge. However, significant injury or death is far from certain; numerous studies report minimally injured persons who died from drowning.

<i>The Rage: Carrie 2</i> 1999 American supernatural horror film by Katt Shea

The Rage: Carrie 2 is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Katt Shea, and starring Emily Bergl, Jason London, Dylan Bruno, J. Smith-Cameron and Amy Irving. The film is a sequel to the 1976 horror film Carrie based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Stephen King, and serves as the second film in the Carrie franchise. Its plot follows the younger half-sister of Carrie White (Bergl), also suffering with telekinesis, who finds that her best friend's suicide was spurred by a group of popular male classmates who exploited her for sexual gain.

<i>The Joy of Life</i> 2005 American film by Jenni Olson

The Joy of Life is a 2005 experimental landscape documentary film by filmmaker Jenni Olson about the history of suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge, and the adventures of a butch lesbian in San Francisco, California. Following its January 2005 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the film played a pivotal role in renewing debate about the need for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge and garnered praise and awards for its unique filmmaking style.

<i>Little Dieter Needs to Fly</i> 1997 documentary film directed by Werner Herzog

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a 1997 German-British-French documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog, produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, and premiered on German television. The film follows the life of Dieter Dengler, in particular being shot down during the Vietnam War and his capture, imprisonment, escape, and rescue. Herzog went on to direct a dramatized version of the story, Rescue Dawn, which stars Christian Bale as Dengler in 2006.

The Bridge may refer to:

<i>The Bridge</i> (2006 documentary film) 2006 British film

The Bridge is a 2006 British-American documentary film by Eric Steel spanning one year of filming at the Golden Gate Bridge which crosses the Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco Bay, connecting the city of San Francisco, California to the Marin Headlands of Marin County, in 2004. The film shows a number of suicides, and features interviews with family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge that year and one person who had jumped previously and survived.

<i>Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple</i> 2006 documentary film

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, is a 2006 documentary film made by Firelight Media, produced and directed by Stanley Nelson. The documentary reveals new footage of the incidents surrounding the Peoples Temple and its leader Jim Jones who led over 900 members of his religious group to a settlement in Guyana called Jonestown, where he orchestrated a mass suicide with poisoned Flavor Aid, in November 1978. It is in the form of a narrative with interviews with former Temple members, Jonestown survivors, and people who knew Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Mendelson</span> American animation producer (1933–2019)

Leland Maurice Mendelson was an American animation producer and executive producer of many Peanuts animated specials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leanne Pooley</span> New Zealand-Canadian filmmaker

Leanne Pooley ONZM is a Canadian filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. Pooley was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980s and began working in the New Zealand television and film industry before moving to England where she worked for many of the world's top broadcasters. She returned to New Zealand in 1997 and started the production company Spacific Films. Her career spans more than 25 years and she has won numerous international awards. Leanne Pooley was made a New Zealand Arts Laureate in 2011 and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's Honours List 2017. She is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

<i>The Blair Witch Project</i> 1999 horror film

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local myth known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly "found footage" is the movie the viewer sees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Gate Bridge in popular culture</span>

As a prominent American landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge has been used in a variety of media, often shown or mentioned where San Francisco, California is the setting of the story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge</span>

Between 1937 and 2012, an estimated 1,400 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Hines</span> American suicide prevention speaker

John Kevin Hines is an American suicide prevention speaker who attempted suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. His story gained major media coverage and he has since become a motivational speaker and advocate for suicide prevention.