"Just Getting By", a new documentary film by Bess O'Brien, focused on Vermonters struggling with food and housing insecurity has been touring Vermont and is now coming to South Burlington on Wednesday, May 29th. The movie will play at the Auditorium at the South Burlington Community Center, 180 Market Street at 7:00pm. A freewill donation of $10 is requested at the door, for those that can afford it.
Just Getting By is a sweeping, and yet intimate look at the lives of Vermonters who are struggling with food and housing insecurity.
Vermont has the second highest rate of homeless people in the United States, right after California. One third of Vermonters struggle to put food on the table. These are big issues for a small state. Just Getting By focuses on these issues in the lives of everyday people.
The film tells the stories of working families, folks who are homeless and accessing food shelves and soup kitchens and people who are living in temporary hotel/motel programs. In addition, the film focuses on New Americans grappling with the cost of living in America, Native people creating innovative farming practices and folks on the ground providing services to their fellow Vermonters in need.
Just Getting By explores the day to day challenges and incredible resiliency that low-income Vermonters bear witness to every day.
The film was shot during 2022-23 by director Bess O'Brien and cinematographer Patrick Kennedy. "We wanted to capture the day to day lives of Vermonters who were living paycheck to paycheck and who were struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. We also wanted to show the incredible resiliency and courage of folks who have very little and still manage to get up every day and strive for a better life." O'Brien says.
"We hope by touring the film across the state that we can raise consciousness about these pressing issues of food and housing insecurity with Vermont audiences across the state." says O'Brien.
The showing in South Burlington has been made possible with the support of the Faith Influenced Leaders Corporation, the South Burlington Food Shelf, the South Burlington Rotary Club, the South Burlington Business Association, the South Burlington Public Library, and the South Burlington Library Foundation.