Top - Behind the scenes shot during filming of “After You Get Back” lead actors Akina Yamazaki (left) and Lee Corpuz (right).

Bottom Left - Director of Photographer Alex Lee (left) and Executive Producer Chris Lee (right) behind the scenes.

Bottom Right - Production Designer Mia Hunt on set

Photos: Yein Ji

WRITTEN BY MARINA GOMBERG

It might be hard to imagine that an assignment you’re working on your senior year of college is going to become something that changes the world. Or maybe it isn’t hard if you’re Nikki Bullock (Film & Media Arts BFA, ‘21), sitting in Professor Emeritus Paul Larsen’s Screenwriting class in the University of Utah Department of Film & Media Arts, and writing from the heart.

Immersed in a creative, safe, inspiring space and armed with knowledge, training, and experience, Bullock decided to write a script based on her experience escaping to the coast with a friend who had recently been institutionalized after attempting to die by suicide.

“Media, as they talk about suicide, all lead up to what happened,” she said. “The movie always ends when they leave the hospital.”

Until now.

Photo: Yein Ji

She decided to tell a story that fills the gap of what happens “After You Get Back.”

The timing for a more holistic understanding of a person’s journey is critical given that mental health concerns are a growing health crisis and, in fact, a leading cause of death and disability among adolescents and young adults in the United States. The Utah Department of Health’s data shows that Utah’s suicide rates are among the highest in the nation.

Bullock’s colleagues and employers at TWIG Media Lab, a Salt Lake City-based film production company founded and run by brothers Chris Lee and Alex Lee who are also U Film alumni, knew she had a powerful project on her hands and cajoled her to finally share it with them.

A year and a half later, after getting consent from the friend whose story Bullock shares and a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to cover the basic costs of casting and shooting “After You Get Back,” her screenplay began coming to life with TWIG on board..

On the coast filming the final scene of the film. Photo: Yein Ji

Photo: Yein Ji

From hiring acting talent from the U Department of Theatre to seeking funding opportunities, the team found themselves appreciating the benefits of being connected to a large R1 Research institution.

With additional post-production costs on the horizon, Chris Lee, Partner and Director of TWIG, who was also an Adjunct Professor of Screendance in the U’s School of Dance at the time, reached out to colleagues across campus to dream about how this film might support research efforts at the intersection of the arts and health. It was his meeting with Becky Zarate, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts (CFA) and the Director of the Arts & Health Innovation Lab at the U that unearthed the potential for the next phase of the project.

“When Chris told me about this film that could so strikingly and poignantly illuminate the plight of young people recently released from having been institutionalized for mental health crises, it begged the question that we could answer anecdotally but would be interested to understand empirically: ‘why is film such a powerful narrative tool to build empathy and understanding?’ That inquiry opened a new realm of questions about how this film — and film as a medium of discovery — might aid in improving our societal and clinical care for vulnerable populations. This seed project warrants being scaled up to perhaps a series. It is shaping opportunities to develop new arts-informed measures for future research with demographic populations and suicide” Zarate said.

Her call for interested faculty collaborators drew in U Theatre’s Associate Professor Alexandra Harbold and Assistant Professor and the current Arts & Health Faculty Research Fellow Samantha Briggs, who came onboard (Briggs as principal investigator) in what would become a study of the film’s impact as an effective, arts-informed tool for suicide prevention, education, and policy engagement.

With this charge, Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to conduct research on human subjects, and strong interdisciplinary collaboration, the team applied for and was awarded a CFA Faculty Arts Research Seed Grant Fund sponsored by the U’s Vice President for Research allowing them to finish the film and begin using it as a tool to engage the community in important discussions about mental health and film’s potential role in addressing the challenges we face.

This spring, the film got its first audience at an initial screening and discussion with mental health professionals whose perspectives informed what would become a survey for the general public after future screenings. And on March 28, 2026, an unseasonably warm Saturday evening, the film was screened to the public in the Department of Film & Media Arts’ brand new Kent & Martha DiFiore Cinema, followed by a panel discussion and survey.

At this time of writing, the film is off on an already-successful circuit of film festivals while data are being analyzed. What comes next is a story yet to unfold, but what we already know from the preliminary findings is that the film is shifting the paradigm for parents who try to make everything “normal” for their kids upon return, the critical roles of empathy and connection in suicide-related close relationships, and the interest in a full series of films like this told from the various perspectives of those involved when a person attempts to die by suicide.

And alumna Bullock? She’s grateful for the creative process that helped her process her own experience, proud of her vulnerability, and deeply satisfied that her work is generating new knowledge.

The panel after the public screening of “After You Get Back” in the Kent & Martha DiFiori Cinema including (left to right) Alexandra Harbold, Nikki Bullock, Amanda Bakian, Lauren Stivers, Hilary Coon, Emily Bergeson. Photo: Alex Lee

This spring, the film got its first audience at an initial screening and discussion with mental health professionals whose perspectives informed what would become a survey for the general public after future screenings. And on March 28, 2026, an unseasonably warm Saturday evening, the film was screened to the public in the Department of Film & Media Arts’ brand new Kent & Martha DiFiore Cinema, followed by a panel discussion and survey. At this time of writing, the film is off on an already-successful circuit of film festivals while data are being analyzed. What comes next is a story yet to unfold, but what we already know from the preliminary findings is that the film is shifting the paradigm for parents who try to make everything “normal” for their kids upon return, the critical roles of empathy and connection in suicide-related close relationships, and the interest in a full series of films like this told from the various perspectives of those involved when a person attempts to die by suicide. And alumna Bullock? She’s grateful for the creative process that helped her process her own experience, proud of her vulnerability, and deeply satisfied that her work is generating new knowledge.