S.L. FULLER
Staff Writer
Being an audience member for a test screening of a new documentary is not an opportunity that comes along often. But SUNY Fredonia students and members of the surrounding community got the opportunity to attend the initial viewing of “A Sticky Situation.” This documentary by Canadian filmmaker Andrew Nisker is about gum and the negative effects it has on the human body and the environment.
The screening was hosted by Fredonia associate professor of chemistry Sherri “Sam” Mason, who was also featured in the documentary.
“Don’t you feel special?” Mason asked the audience before the viewing. “Nobody’s seen this before. Not even me!” Nisker asked Mason if she would be willing to show the new, nearly finished documentary at the university. Questionnaires were handed out to all audience members prior to the screening so Nisker and his team could consider the feedback.
“[Nisker] said, ‘Oh, would you be willing to do a test screening?’ And I was like, ‘That would be awesome!’” said Mason. After filming the documentary, Nisker and Mason have become good friends.
Some other works of Nisker’s include “Garbage! The Revolution Starts and Home” and “Chemercial.” His documentaries are based on raising awareness of environmental threats.
Mason was originally contacted by Nisker’s team of researchers because of her work on Lake Erie: researching plastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems. Since one of the main components of gum is plastic, Mason was the perfect fit to interview for the film.
Like many others, Mason said she was skeptical at first about the topic of Nisker’s documentary. How does one go about making a whole film about gum? But Mason agreed to meet with Nisker to discuss her part in the documentary.
“You start talking to [Nisker] and he’s telling you all of these facts,” said Mason. “For example, there’s one street in London that spends a million pounds a year cleaning gum off the street.
“There are a lot of different angles to it and once you start talking about it you go, ‘Oh I guess you really can make a documentary about this,’” continued Mason.
By the end of the conversation, Mason said Nisker had sold her on the idea.
“It was a lot of fun,” Mason said about filming her part in the documentary with Nisker. She went on to say how all her viewpoints were portrayed correctly and nothing was taken out of context.
There were three screenings of the film at different times in the hopes of drawing more people to give more feedback. At the initial viewing, there seemed to be a very diverse crowd. Mason mentioned how communication between faculty members is very efficient. Some professors made the viewing an extra credit assignment to try to encourage people to attend.
Freshman audio/radio production major Sean Edelman and junior media management major Rachel Breese both attended the viewing because it was extra credit for their Mass Media and Society class.
“I think she just figured it was a documentary which is a form of mass media,” said Breese about why she thought this film was extra credit.
Breese didn’t know anything about the film prior to the viewing. Edelman didn’t either, joking that he thought it was about how gum “destroys the earth.”
“It’s different,” said Edelman about the documentary. “I think it’s going to be strange, but I like strange things.”
Nisker will be on campus for Earth Week in April. A documentary of his will be shown followed by a panel. This is not the first time Nisker’s work has been shown during Earth Week.
“Once [Nisker and I] started talking I’m like, ‘Oh you made Garbage: A Revolution Starts at Home,’ and we had shown that movie here at Earth Week a couple years ago,” said Mason. She hadn’t realized she knew of Nisker before they started work on “A Sticky Situation.”
“I hadn’t pieced it all together so that was really cool,” said Mason.