'Shattered Ice' filmed in Needham, Randolph tackles suicide in wake of real-life tragedy

RANDOLPH — Between 2004 and 2009, five teenagers died by suicide in Needham, Massachusetts. Twenty years later, two Needham High School graduates are producing a film inspired by these tragedies in an attempt to raise awareness about mental health.

Written and produced by longtime friends and Needham High alumni Jake Miskin and Ben Stephen, Shattered Ice is a small-town New England hockey drama that centers around a group of friends who have to navigate life after losing their best friend and teammate to suicide.

"Shattered Ice is inspired by my own high school experience at Needham High School in Massachusetts between 2004-2009, where we lost multiple students to suicide," said Miskin, who began writing the script for the film more than 10 years ago.

"This fictional story is an amalgamation of experiences and events that took place while I was in high school, with a few creative liberties taken. We lost friends, we picked each other up, and we went to a hell of a lot of high school hockey games," he said.

While the plot of the film is kicked off by the tragic suicide of a young man, the message of the film is ultimately one of hope, highlighting the importance of community and togetherness in times of tragedy.

Tragedy at Needham High School

Between 2004 and 2009, five Needham teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 took their own lives. Several of the parents of the teens who died spoke to the media about their children to raise awareness about mental health and suicide.

A 19-year-old Needham High School graduate took his own life in November of 2004, on the same day that another 13-year-old student at Pollard Middle School in Needham also died by suicide. In October 2005, a 17-year-old Needham High School student became the third student in a year's span to die by suicide. And in April 2006, another 17-year-old at Needham High School also took his own life. Then in 2009, an 18-year-old Needham High School graduate died by suicide.

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Both Miskin and Stephen were high school students when the suicides occurred. While the characters in Shattered Ice are entirely fictional, Miskin was able to use his experience as a witness to these suicides as inspiration for the script.

"Because we were in high school, it breaks that sense of innocence pretty sharply. It wakes you up to the reality and tragedy inherent in the world," said Stephen.

The experience of writing and producing a film based on that experience allowed the men, and ultimately, the fictional characters, to face their trauma and grief in a different way than they had been able to at the time.

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Shattered Ice

While the premise of Shattered Ice was inspired by the tragic Needham student suicides, the film is an entirely fictional story that follows main character Will Mankus, played by Charlie Gillespie, as he copes with his friend and teammate's suicide.

"Our main character goes through a cycle of what not to do, certainly, before he is able to pull himself back up and face that trauma and grief head on," said Stephen. "The big message is that nobody should ever go through that experience alone. There are always people around you that can help you through it," he said. "You never know who that person is going to be, so having the willingness to talk to someone, whether it be a coach, sibling, friend, teacher, principal, or a therapist or psychologist, but just the willingness to have a dialogue with someone."

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Getting the hockey scenes right

Equally as important as communicating those heavier themes surrounding mental health and suicide was creating an exciting sports drama, said Miskin.

"I always wanted to tell a story about the culture of hockey in New England," he said. "The goal of this film is to start the conversation to end the stigma of suicide and mental health, but also tell an awesome hockey story. We want this to ultimately be optimistic and hopeful."

"The film is, of course, an attempt to convey a message about mental health and start a conversation, but it's also not lost on us that this is a sports movie as well," said Stephen.

According to Director Alex Ranarivelo, it was important to show the characters within the hockey community coming together to have difficult conversations about mental health.

"In the sports world, where being tough and kicking ass is valued above all else, perhaps what takes the greatest courage is showing vulnerability," he said. "This message is why I wanted to tell this story."

"There's not a lot of stuff out there in the media landscape that allows for young men to be vulnerable about their feelings. There can be a tough guy attitude, especially in the sports community, that you should, 'Be a man and just deal with it.' That's obviously not a very healthy way of going about things," said Stephen.

"I think what's inside these characters is a bit of an accounting of how we dealt with things and how we could have done better."

On Jan. 24, the crew and cast filmed some of those hockey scenes at Zapustas Ice Arena in Randolph.

"We had a really incredible hockey technical advisor, skating cameraman, and elements to make the sports part of it pop. Most of the players in the film are actually local guys that are talented young players."

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Production timeline

A few years ago, Miskin's script got the attention of Hope Givers, a non-profit organization that helps storytellers produce content on issues related to mental health.

“Their mission is storytelling that normalizes the conversation around mental health, so we fell right in line with them," said Miskin.

Through the organization's fiscal sponsorship program for filmmakers, Miskin was able to take his story from script to screen and began filming this past January.

“It was quite a surreal experience to be able to film a movie inspired by the town that we grew up in, in the town that we grew up in, more or less, obviously, with the exception of Randolph and a few other locations," said Stephen.

With filming officially done, Miskin and Stephen said they hope to have a final cut done by the end of the summer, but without a distribution deal for the film, a release date is still up in the air.

"We anticipate having some kind of finished cut by the end of the summer, which we will then submit to festivals and begin the process of finding a distributor," said Miskin.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Movie filmed in Randolph inspired by suicides at Needham High School