• Courtesy Of Bess O'Brien
• Vermonters tell their stories of dealing with housing and food insecurity in Bess O'Brien's latest sobering doc.

For the real Vermont beyond the tourism brochures, look no further than the documentaries of Bess O'Brien. Red barns and autumn vistas figure in the Barnet filmmaker's work, but they're backdrops to the stories of Vermonters who are dealing with decidedly less picturesque problems.

O'Brien has already made docs about eating disorders, the opioid epidemic, domestic violence, incarceration, foster care and immigration (see sidebar). Last week she premiered her new film, Just Getting By, which profiles Vermonters struggling with food and housing insecurity.

You can see the doc this week at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum (Thursday and Friday, March 28 and 29, free), Town Hall Theater in Middlebury (Saturday, March 30, $17), and Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro (Sunday, March 31, $15). Find more upcoming screenings, including at Montpelier's Savoy Theater and Randolph's Playhouse Movie Theatre, at kingdomcounty.org.

The deal

O'Brien's doc reminds us of a troubling statistic: Vermont's rate of homelessness is the second-highest in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. The COVID-19 pandemic saw an outpouring of community support for the state's most vulnerable citizens.

But what next? Introduced during the pandemic to shelter unhoused Vermonters, the state's motel program has been in limbo since early 2023. March 15 of this year saw a new wave of evictions, as about 500 people lost their eligibility for vouchers to stay in local motels.

Just Getting By brings us back to fall 2022, when the threat of eviction first loomed over people like Elysia Gingras, who is shown living with her husband and five children in a St. Johnsbury motel. Their scramble to find an affordable apartment in a tight market provides a through line for the film, as O'Brien profiles a range of Vermonters who are "just getting by."

Some reside in motels, some on farms or in tents. Some have multiple jobs but can't make ends meet; they survive by eating the game they shoot or haunting the dollar store or bartering. Some are recent immigrants, facing everyday racism and starting to feel skeptical about the American dream. Some are seniors eking out their Social Security checks. Some are kids ashamed to tell their classmates where they live.

Interspersed with these slices of life are interviews with advocates and organizers who are working to improve their neighbors' lot. We visit Martha's Community Kitchen in St. Albans, where people in need find home-cooked meals and conversation; Enough Ministries in Barre, which offers a kiosk full of donated produce; and a Vermont Foodbank VeggieVanGo event. We hear from artists and homeschoolers, veterans and cat lovers, employees of bowling alleys and recycling centers. All are grappling with economic precarity.

Will you like it?

• Courtesy Of Bess O'Brien
• Vermonters tell their stories of dealing with housing and food insecurity in Bess O'Brien's latest sobering doc.

Just Getting By may paint a grim picture, but it's an engaging watch. O'Brien's subjects open up to the camera, describing their plights with eloquence and wry humor. "If I have a full gas tank, that's a win," one says. "I'm a suburban mom," another objects, expressing her consternation after state authorities offer her a tent to replace her subsidized motel room. Do they really expect her to live in the woods? she wonders.

When we haven't experienced homelessness or food insecurity, it's easy to make generalizations about people who do — to paint them as idle or spending their income on frivolities. But O'Brien's subjects don't fit the stereotypes. They give us an overall impression of dynamism, driven and ingenious in their attempts to make the best of their situation. One interviewee counters the notion that financial education is the remedy for economic woes, noting that poor people are already experts at budgeting the little they have: "You can't budget yourself out of homelessness."

What is the solution, then? Private and public charity can keep people afloat, as the documentary shows, but no one portrayed here seems eager to rely on those resources indefinitely. O'Brien's subjects simply want their income to keep pace with their housing and food expenses. And, in Vermont, that goal proves elusive.

For some, the only solution is to leave. One couple moves to New Hampshire in search of affordable housing. Another remains in Burlington, but the husband regularly commutes to another city where he can support his family as an Uber driver.

Is Vermont becoming unlivable for low-income people? What can we do about it? Addressing that question might mean delving into political debates, which O'Brien avoids. But Just Getting By presents us with vivid, worrying case studies that give life to the mind-numbing economic facts and figures. For anyone concerned about the state's future, it's an important watch.

If you like this, try...

Coming Home (2018; rent or buy at kingdomcounty.org): In this earlier documentary, O'Brien profiled Vermonters who were returning from incarceration to their communities with the help of the COSA (Circles of Support and Accountability) program.

The Hungry Heart (2013; rent or buy at kingdomcounty.org and on other platforms): In this doc, O'Brien explored the state's opioid epidemic through a profile of local pediatrician Fred Holmes and his work treating young people with substance-use disorder.

Ramen Day (2024; local premiere on April 16, 5 p.m., at the Capitol Showplace in Montpelier): Just Getting By profiles several community organizations that stepped up to feed Vermonters during and after the pandemic. Key to those efforts was the Vermont Everyone Eats! program, the subject of this new documentary from Middlebury filmmaker Corey Hendrickson.