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Sunday, May 4, 7pm Screening of film Just Getting By, followed by Q&A with filmmaker Bess O'Brien at ECPC
Just Getting By –a new film on Vermonters struggling with food and housing insecurity
plays in East Craftsbury, May 4.
Just Getting By, a new documentary film by Bess O’Brien focused on Vermonters struggling with food and
housing insecurity will play at the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 4, 2025, at 7 pm. This
screening is free. It is a collaboration between the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library, the Community
Housing Forum, the Hardwick Area Food Pantry and the East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church. It is supported in
part by Vermont Humanities. Director Bess O’Brien will be part of a special Q and A after the film.
Just Getting By is a sweeping, and yet intimate look at the lives of Vermonters who are struggling with food
and housing insecurity. The film has been touring the state over the last year and is raising consciousness
about the pressing issues that working and low income people are dealing with every day in their lives.
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.
The movie is produced by Kingdom County Productions and has garnered rave reviews as it crosses the state.
Vermont LT. Governor David Zuckerman says, “This film puts our societies’ realities into a visible and real
format for people to see. It is such critical work for Vermonters to see. ”
Seven Days movie reviewer Margot Harrison said “Bess O’Brien’s film presents us with vivid case studies that
give life to economic facts and figures. For anyone concerned about the state's future, this film is an important
watch!”
For more information go to: www.kingdomcounty.org or email Bess at bobrien@pshift.com.