Documentary Offers American Mosaic, Searches for Common Ground

By TERESA WINCHESTER
ONEONTA

The New York premiere of “Something in the Water,” an award-winning documentary about finding common ground among Americans, will be shown at the Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center in Oneonta on April 21 and 22. Musical entertainment in the Atrium-Bar will begin at 6 p.m., with the film screening at 7 p.m., followed by an audience discussion.

Admission is free; those wishing to attend should reserve tickets at https://somethinginthewater.today, by e-mailing hope@somethinginthewater.today, or by calling (607) 226-4181.

The film is produced and directed by Gilbertsville residents Jeri Wachter and Joseph C. Stillman, who expressed gratitude to Five Star Subaru for its sponsorship of the event, allowing the public to see the film at no cost.

“We think it’s important for people to see this film because it’s a search for common ground,” Stillman said.

The filmmakers were prompted to make “Something in the Water” by the social discontent brewing before, during and after the 2020 presidential election. Although the film’s title may suggest an environmental theme, the term, metaphorically, alludes to a recurring phenomenon among numerous people within the same area.

Dissatisfaction with reporting of events by the major news outlets led Wachter and Stillman to develop a film deemphasizing divisiveness and stressing the complexity of people and their thought processes.

“We felt like prisoners of the regular news cycle, felt bias from both sides. We are far more complex than what was being represented in the daily news,” Wachter said.

Feeling palpable tension in the village of Gilbertsville, Wachter and Stillman put out a call for people to come to The Major’s Inn to be filmed sharing their feelings about what was going on.

These interviews were followed by two weekends of interviews in Oneonta.

To ascertain whether people in other parts of the country felt the same way, the two filmmakers then embarked on a tour across the U.S., beginning in the south, continuing to the East Coast and winding up with a 30-day series of interviews in the west.

“In all, we were on the road for 50 days, interviewed 200 people in 30 states and clocked 16,500 miles,” Stillman said.

Wachter and Stillman sought to interview as diverse a group as possible. Without being labeled by political beliefs, interviewees spanned the full spectrum as to gender, race and age—the youngest interviewee being 18 years old.

“We always prefaced the interviews by saying, “We want to know what you really feel about America at this time,” Wachter said, noting that “once people cross the threshold of trust, they open up and begin to share.”

Wachter and Stillman carried out their work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. One advantage of that situation was that venues were easily available. Another was that gas prices were exceptionally low.

“We observed COVID protocols to maintain safety for everyone involved. We scheduled interviews an hour and a half apart,” Wachter said, noting also that she and Stillman wore masks while the interviewees did not, but were standing a minimum of six feet from their subjects.

“It was definitely production on the fly. Complete strangers from all over the country facilitated the process, cooked meals for us, and invited us into their homes,” Wachter said.

Besides the practical challenges presented by the pandemic, Wachter and Stillman sensed its emotional impact on the general population. It seemed to exacerbate feelings of malcontent associated with the existing political situation.

“A lot of people were expressing the pain they were feeling. They were hurting for a number of reasons and the shut-down caused them to internalize their feelings of anger and confusion,” Stillman said.

The film was finalized in March, 2022. Running 100 minutes, it considers 11 distinct topics, including “Haves and Have-nots,” “Racism in America” and “Why is There Angst?”

Wachter and Stillman approached the project with different attitudes—yet another example of the diversity of opinions and attitudes so prevalent across the nation.

“I began with cynical ideas about whether we did have things in common but ended up feeling that we all want the same things—good jobs, good healthcare, good schools and safe communities,” Stillman said.

“I started out with a little more faith in mankind than Joe. I found out so much about myself by interviewing others. I identified with what they were saying and thinking. If we take enough time to share conversation and listen, we can find nuggets of similarities that allow us to embrace each other,” Wachter said.

In 2022, Wachter and Stillman met with success in film competitions. The film won the “Grand Festival Documentary Award” at the Berkley Video Film Festival. It took top honors at the South Texas Underground Film Festival and was a semi-finalist at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. It was also selected to be in the full-length documentary category for the 4th annual Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival.

More information can be found at https://somethinginthewater.today.