ST. JOHNSBURY/GREENSBORO – “Just Getting By,” a new documentary film on Vermonters struggling with food and housing insecurity plays in St. Johnsbury and Greensboro.
“Just Getting By” by Bess O’Brien will tour Vermont from March 22-April 12th. The movie will play at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum on March 28 and March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Highland Arts Center in Greensboro on April 4, at 7 p.m.
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. “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.
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.
