Editor's note: This article is about suicide and may be distressing to some readers. If you are having suicidal thoughts, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit The lifeguard 988a national network of local crisis centers that provides free, confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
The heartbreaking final moments of Avicii's life are revisited in a new documentary. avicii: it's timwhich premiered over the weekend at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
The film airs never-before-heard interviews with the legendary DJ, whose real name was Tim Bergling. Ubiquitously known as one of the most virtuoso dance music producers of all time, Bergling died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 28 after dealing with mental health issues brought on in large part by a grueling touring schedule.
avicii: it's tim It also includes commentary from several of Bergling's collaborators and contemporaries, including Jesse Waits, a Las Vegas nightlife impresario and member of the Nightclub Hall of Fame. Waits saw firsthand the deleterious effect of painkillers on Bergling, whom he said was “like a brother.”
“His eyes were wide open like a zombie's; he wasn't there,” Waits said. “At dinner, his behavior changed and his eyes dilated. That changes everything. Those pills change how you act and how you feel. You wake up feeling like shit and you have to take another one to feel good. For him, it was suppressing his anxiety, but that only created more anxiety.
In a particularly harrowing interview with Bergling, one of the last he gave, he laments his reliance on pills to push the limits of his mental toughness while on tour.
“I just took everything I could,” he said. “I didn't realize you could do it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But once that opened up, you could tour all year round. It was killing me. The tours got even crazier because the rates “Everything was very fast from that moment on.”
Directed by Henrik Burman, avicii: it's tim is the latest company developed to pay tribute to Bergling, whose family in 2019 launched a foundation that funds research and develops preventive solutions for young people experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Lawrence Bender is currently producing a new documentary about Avicii featuring “unreleased footage” shot around the time of his discovery and rise to fame. Meanwhile, investment firm Pophouse Entertainment plans to develop a musical about Bergling after buying a majority stake in his catalog in 2022.
Find more about avicii: it's tim and its projections here.
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