Film Screening: Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong & "Pee Shy"

Join us for a screening of Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong, by Filmmakers Alex Lewis and Kaitliyn Schwalje (Salt '18), and the short film "Pee Shy," by Steven Jackson (Salt '13). A short Q&A with the filmmakers will follow.

"Pee Shy"

Steven has had a shy bladder for most of his life. After years of coping with it alone and in secret, he's finally decided to do something about it: He will learn everything he can about the phobia, try his best to overcome it, and make a movie about the whole thing.

The quest to pee freely takes him far and wide, from probing conversations with reluctant loved ones, to interviews with renowned shy bladder experts, through various forms of therapy, all the way back to a childhood memory where it all began (maybe). Eventually, he finds his way to a huge but hidden community of fellow shy pee-ers, where he finds some relief—though not quite in the way he expected.

Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong

Wastewater plants across the country are in need of resuscitation. Half a century after the Clean Water Act radically improved how we handle our sewage, our once modern facilities have aged beyond their intended lifespans. Pipes are cracking and growing populations push plants to their limits. The threats are mounting but the infrastructure hasn’t changed. And, just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, a cancer causing-contaminant (PFAS) enters the scene and threatens to collapse the entire house of cards. In response, one plant that can’t afford to ever shut down, must find clever solutions to an ever-growing mountain of problems.

Over the course of one calendar year, we follow the day-to-day operations of one wastewater facility and the funny, close-knit, and inventive individuals working to keep it all running. There’s Dustin, Gollum impersonator and self-professed nerd, who heads the place. With a quick wit he keeps the crew smiling as the plant chugs along. There’s Zac – artist and tattooed gentle giant, Dustin’s best friend and number two in charge who over the course of the year absorbs the mounting pressures faced by the plant. And lastly Jimmy, the youngest member of the team. Under Dustin’s guidance, Jimmy hopes to overcome test anxiety and pass his entry level operators exam. On a daily basis, the team laughs and struggles in a plant that looks like a movie set with labyrinths of pipes and blinking panels.

Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong is a buddy comedy about poop and the thankless pursuit of making a better world.

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Host or Publisher Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at MECA&D