Almost There

82-year-old Peter Anton has spent decades obsessively chronicling his life story in a massive, illustrated autobiography titled, Almost There, and nothing, not poverty, isolation or crippling disabilities will stop him from seeing it published. Peter’s work, which can be best described as ‘outsider’ art (art created outside the cultural mainstream) was made in his childhood/current home. With his immediate family long dead, the home has fallen into squalor and his health is failing. What happens when Peter befriends the filmmakers and they try to help him tell his story and get his work shown publicly for the first time forms the dramatic center of the film. Almost There delves into Peter’s controversial art exhibit and documents the tumultuous transition he is forced to make out of his childhood home. Along the way, the directors meet people in Peter’s community who like them are compelled to help this charismatic yet curmudgeonly character survive, while asking: Why do they do it? What responsibilities do we have to those in need, and where should boundaries be drawn?Our character-driven narrative will interest anyone confronting issues involving poverty, senior living, the disabled or those with mental illness. Although Almost There deals with difficult issues, it is filled with warmth and humor, both the goofy humor of our subject and the humor that arises during times of unimaginable struggle.