Press

ALBANY, NY – A nationally acclaimed, Emmy-nominated documentary, profiling three elderly troop greeters, will be presented at the New York State Museum Oct. 14 as part of a program that will also feature the film’s award-winning director and one of its leading characters.

“The Way We Get By” will be shown at 6:30 p.m. free-of-charge in the Museum’s Huxley Theater. Following the 83-minute film presentation, Director and writer Aron Gaudet and his mother, Joan Gaudet, one of the troop greeters, will answer questions from the audience.

National Grid, the presenting sponsor, is supporting the program in part to honor the company’s veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as those who have family members serving overseas. Stewart’s will sponsor a free ice cream social at the conclusion of the program. Other sponsors are Wells Fargo, Dutch Apple Cruises, and Hilton Garden Inn Albany Airport.

Those wishing to attend the Museum screening should call (518) 474-0076. The film is one of a series of programs planned in conjunction with the Museum’s Citizen Soldier: New York’s National Guard in the American Century exhibition, open through March 2011.

Nominated for an Emmy Award this year, “The Way We Get By” has been called “profoundly humane” by the New York Times. The Cleveland Plain Dealer said there are moments in the film that “cut right to your heart.” This film is “filled with a rare honesty and intimacy that makes for a rewarding film experience,” said the Los Angeles Times.

“The Way We Get By” is a seemingly idiosyncratic story about a group of three senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, but the film quickly turns into a moving, unsettling and compassionate story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality. Carefully building stories of heartbreak and redemption, the film reminds its audience about how American society casts its elders, and too

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often its soldiers, aside. More importantly regardless of one’s politics, “The Way We Get By”

celebrates three unsung heroes who share their love with strangers who need and deserve it.

Since 2003, Joan Gaudet (age 77), Bill Knight (age 87) and Jerry Mundy (age 75) and a rotating group of volunteers, have greeted more than 1 million American soldiers at the Bangor, Maine International Airport, a frequent stopover for troops deploying or coming home. Despite their age and failing health, the three dedicated and selfless volunteers have risen at all hours of the day and night, regardless of the weather, to be at the airport to ensure that the soldiers passing through there have someone waiting to welcome or bid them goodbye. While the troops wait for their plane to be serviced they are offered the free use of cell phones and the company of their hosts in the troop greeters’ welcome center.

Hundreds of Capital District soldiers are among those who have benefited from the warm hospitality. But they are not the only ones. The film shows how the experience has transformed the lives of the three troop greeters.

“Witnessing firsthand how her life changed in such positive ways, 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,” wrote Aron Gaudet about his mother’s role as a troop greeter. “This is a unique film, encompassing important social issues and controversial topics, while remaining a story that every American can support.”

The documentary has won 17 awards to date including the Audience Award at the Full Frame Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Atlanta, Little Rock, Phoenix and Newport Film Festivals. Most recently, the AARP awarded “The Way We Get By” an award for the “Best Documentary of 2009”

Aron Gaudet has worked in television news for over a decade and has won a total of eight Telly Awards, one national Emmy nomination, two regional Emmy nominations, two Vermont Association of Broadcasters awards, and a Michigan Association of Broadcasters award.

Gita Pullapilly, the film’s producer and interviewer, began her career as a television reporter. She has been honored with a number of distinctions for her work—including a national Emmy nomination, the University of Notre Dame Asian American Alumni Association Exemplar Award, two Associated Press Awards, a Michigan Association of Broadcasters Award, three Telly awards, and a Northwestern University Scholarship for Outstanding Storytelling.

For more information on “The Way We Get By visit http://thewaywegetbymovie.com/

Established in 1836, the State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located at the Empire State Plaza on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free and the Museum is fully accessible. Further

information about Museum programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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