DJ/Music Video Director Sam Spiegel’s New Short Film ‘Heaven’ Tackles Mental Health

Grammy.com / October 28, 2020

Music producer, DJ, and director Sam Spiegel has a story to tell.

In his new short film, Heaven, out now on YouTube, he tackles mental health, specifically suicide prevention, through one woman’s story. In the film, we are introduced to dancer Nevaeh Meraz, who chronicles her experience at a mental care facility.

He spoke to GRAMMY.com via email more about how Meraz’s story touched him, his partnership with mental health services provider Didi Hirsch, and how making a film during the pandemic brought him closer to the project’s crew. 

You are partnering with Didi Hirsch to raise funds. What made you want to partner with them specifically?

I’m hoping that the film can give people struggling with mental health and particularly suicidal ideation some form of hope. I lost a good friend to suicide a year ago. The loss made me feel more connected to Nevaeh when she told me her story. My hope is that her story can affect others the way it has affected me. Additionally, someone close to me lost their partner to suicide last year and she led us to Didi Hirsch, an agency that she had found impressive and helpful when she discovered them through her loss.