The Way We Get By, from director Aron Gaudet and producer Gita Pullapilly, has garnered a raft of festival awards this year, including a Special Jury Award at SXSW and an Audience Award at Full Frame. Its latest stop on its festival and self-distribution circuit is Washington, DC, for a special screening Wednesday, September 30, at the North Orientation Theater in the US Capitol.
The film, which profiles a group of senior citizens of Bangor, Maine who have been faithfully greeting soldiers at a tiny Bangor airport as they return home from their tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, will screen before an audience of VIPs such as Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden; Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins; Maine Representatives Michael Michaud and Chellie Pingree; and representatives from USO and the Points of Light Institute.
The Way We Get By, of which IDA is a fiscal sponsor, profiles three of the greeters, who, in providing this service for the past five years, have found a purpose in their lives amid their personal struggles with aging, disease, loneliness, memories of war, and personal loss. The film will air nationally on PBS's P.O.V. series on Veteran's Day, November 11. In addition, through a special partnership with Bay Area Video Coalition, ITVS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, an interactive, online site, "Returning Home," will be launched on Veterans Day. "Returning Home" will ensure that American soldiers, both newly returned and those whose service ended many years ago, are not forgotten, and that there is a place to share thoughts and memories, as well as a place to find support among a community that began to take shape among senior citizens in Bangor, Maine. This companion site to The Way We Get By continues the mission of the Maine Troop Greeters, taking these gestures internationally.
"This is a very personal story to me," said Aron Gaudet, in a statement. "Witnessing firsthand how my mother's life changed in such positive ways [His mother, Joan Gaudet, is one of the troop greeters in the film.], while at the same time touching the lives of troops from all over the country, convinced me this was a story that could inspire people. I knew it could be a way to show the everyday struggles of senior citizens and an inspirational story of how these three seniors use a simple handshake to change their lives, and the lives of the 900,000-plus troops they've greeted."
For more information about The Way We Get By, click here.