“SUICIDE STORIES MUST BE TOLD”
ALEMARÍA is a real-facts suicide documentary film. María Robertson tells the story of her husband Alejandro Justiniano, an important economist who worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and his work was recognized internationally. Ale took his life in 2018, a few hours after leaving the hospital where he was admitted for severe depression. In this documentary, María honors her husband Alejandro by telling the truth of his tragic and unexpected death.
A REAL STORY
María and Alejandro met in 1999 at Princeton University, in New Jersey, when they were both studying for their doctorates. Soon they fell in love, got married, and together formed a beautiful family and a beautiful home with their son Lucas.
Ale was an exceptional man, a good friend, an excellent son, a fantastic husband, and a caring father. He was working as an adviser in the privileged US macroeconomics group at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago. He gave lectures and courses on economics all over the world; he was successful professionally and socially. Like many with his calibre and responsibility, Alejandro suffered from anxiety problems. At the age of 40, in 2014, these problems worsened due to the ineffectiveness of the medical treatment he had been receiving for years.
FROM SIDE EFFECTS TO SUICIDE
At the end of 2017, Ale suffered from major depression caused by side effects of some medications with black box warning. After one attempted suicide attempt, he was admitted in a psychiatric hospital in February 2018 to remedy all that suffering. But his life unjustly ended forever on the 7th of April 2018. Alejandro took his own life, at the age of 44, a few hours after receiving a medical discharge that the doctors should never have given him.
Alejandro didn’t know it, but his 11-year-old son, Lucas, and his wife María, were his guardian angel until last second. But from that day, April 7, 2018, Alejandro forever became the guardian angel of his wife and son.
THE DOCUMENTARY FILM
In this audiovisual piece, María Robertson honors the memory of her husband, writes the ending that Ale deserves and answers all the uncomfortable questions. She does it from her heart, from the origin and from the cities and places where they lived together. María also has valuable testimonies from friends, family and influential people in Alejandro’s life.
This movie is a Real-facts documentary which responds to María’s need to tell what really happened to her husband. It serves to give a voice to the victims and the survivors of suicide in an attempt to break the silence around this subject that is still a taboo. Only by breaking the silence can we begin to save lives.
This documentary is being shot in cities such New York, Princeton (New Jersey), Washington, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Cádiz and Valencia.
María Robertson, PhD
Maria Robertson Justiniano was born in England and grew up in Canada. She currently resides in Valencia (Spain). She is the wife of Alejandro Justiniano and the mother of their son; Lucas Justiniano.
In 1999 she met Alejandro at Princeton University (New Jersey, USA) where they both studied for their doctorates. María has a doctorate in Golden Age Literature from Princeton University. She is a writer and was a literature professor —among others— at the Loyola University in Chicago.
María is the executive producer of ALEMARÍA; she tells the story of Ale in first person with the desire to honor Ale’s memories and answer difficult questions about what happened.
Alejandro Justiniano Memories
¿Did you know Ale? If you have known Alejandro Justiniano and you want to share it with all us, please send us your photos and your comments to maria@alemaria.org
We’re gonna create an Ale’s Memories Collage
