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PMA Films x Points North: Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong (with filmmaker discussion)

  • Portland Museum of Art 7 Congress Square Portland, ME, 04101 United States (map)

SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM

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73 minutes (followed by discussion). Not Rated. Directed by Kaitlyn Schwalje and Alex Wolf Lewis. In English. DCP.

Tickets for this screening are $15 for general admission and $12 for PMA members and students. The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. Presented in collaboration with Points North.

Half a century after the Clean Water Act, wastewater facilities have aged beyond their intended lifespans. Growing populations push treatment plants to their limits. Bigger and badder storms stress facilities to the point of failure. The threats are mounting but the infrastructure hasn’t changed. And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, cancer-causing contaminants enter the scene and threaten to collapse the entire house of cards.

Interweaving personal stories, urgent structural problems, and a look into the sophisticated system for keeping our poop out of the streets, this film shows how a ragtag bunch of engineers, mechanics and scientists affect the health of their community. These workers must grapple with the gaping divide between the clean world we want and the complicated reality of making that happen.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS & AWARDS

Camden International Film Festival 2025 (World Premiere) // Fowlie Audience Award

Newburyport Documentary Film Festival // Best New England Film

New Hampshire Film Festival // Audience Award (Documentary)

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