Your ticket includes a recorded Filmmaker Q&A following the film.
How to Watch
What is a wet house? It’s a residential facility for aging alcoholics, where they’re allowed to drink, and perhaps a last refuge in an unending storm of neglect, self-abuse and despair. Benjamin May’s compassionate documentary pulls no punches nor casts any aspersions.
Minneapolis wet houses are justified (in the eyes of the city) in that they are considered “harm reduction facilities.” Wet houses keep chronic alcohol abusers off the street, out of hospitals, and theoretically reduce the danger to themselves (and society)--all of which also saves the city money. Residents must have hit rock bottom: they have to have been in rehab numerous times, and relapsed equally as much. Director Benjamin May entered the world of the wet house and followed several residents over the course of the year, allowing their stories to shine, setting aside preconceived notions and judgment.
Director Biography
Ben’s directorial debut, The Legend of Swee’ Pea, premiered at DOC:NYC and played at over 40 festivals worldwide, winning five Best Documentary Feature awards and two Best Director awards. His second feature, Wet House, an immersive film about the largest harm reduction facility for chronic alcoholics in the US, premiered at the 45th annual Atlanta Film Festival in April 2021. May’s work has been funded by grants from the McKnight Foundation, St. Paul Cultural Star, and the Jerome Foundation for Emerging Filmmakers. He is currently a Jerome Artist Fellow.
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