Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong

Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong is a 73-minute 2025 documentary by Kaitlyn Schwalje (director and screenwriter) and Alexander Wolf Lewis (director).[1][2] It explores the state of America's ageing infrastructure by spending time with the staff inside a wastewater treatment plant in Portland, Maine and examining their struggles with ageing equipment, forever chemicals, and a public that doesn't comprehend all that goes into keeping our environment clean.[3] It won the Audience Award at the 2025 Camden International Film Festival[4] and the Audience Choice – Documentary Award at the 2025 New Hampshire Film Festival.[5]

Release

The film premiered in Portland in November 2025.[6]

Reception

Maine Public called it "a buddy comedy about poop and the thankless pursuit of making a better world."[7] The Portland Press Herald wrote that the film "highlight(ed) the dedication and humor needed by its workers to keep the city’s water clean."[8]

"Rather, the film focuses on a confrontation with the effects our lives have: the waste we create, and the strain of getting rid of it. It reminds us that all things deteriorate, malfunction, and inevitably stop working. Someone has to be there to mop up the shit when the pipes inevitably burst", noted the Maine Play Week podcast.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Alexander Wolf Lewis - Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong". Alexander Wolf Lewis. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  2. ↑ "IFC Center - Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong". IFC Center. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  3. ↑ "The Guelph Film Festival: The One You Shouldn't Miss (But Probably Have)". Original Cin. November 12, 2025. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  4. ↑ "UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG". DOC NYC. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  5. ↑ "UNLESS SOMETHING GOES TERRIBLY WRONG". New Hampshire Film Festival. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Portland Premiere of Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong hosted by Points North & PMA Films at the Portland Museum of Art". Maine Public. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong: A Film About Portland's Waste Water Treatment Plant". Maine Public. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Portland's wastewater workers get recognition on the silver screen". The Portland Press Herald. November 24, 2025. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  9. ↑ Playweek, The Maine; Manning, Kyle (August 21, 2025). "The Weight of Waste: Portland's wastewater in the spotlight at CIFF". The Maine Playweek. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
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