A documentary about industrial pollution in North Carolina’s drinking water will screen November 13 at the Haw River Ballroom. Directed by public health researcher and filmmaker Eli Yetter-Bowman, GenX: The Saga of Forever Chemicals follows an eight-year investigation into chemical manufacturer Chemours and the communities seeking accountability for contamination of the Cape Fear River.
The river supplies drinking water to more than a million North Carolina residents. A local news report in 2017 revealed decades of contamination involving GenX, a compound in the PFAS family of substances commonly called forever chemicals. These substances persist in the environment and the body, and long-term exposure has been linked to chronic diseases, including cancer. Chemours has historical ties to DuPont.
For Yetter-Bowman, who grew up in Wilmington and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, the reporting raised personal questions about health problems they and their mother had experienced for years. They were studying as a premedical student when the contamination became public knowledge. Their mother’s incurable autoimmune disease had already prompted an interest in public health and the underlying causes of illness. Learning about the pollution led them to investigate whether their drinking water could have contributed to their family’s health problems.
In an interview with INDY Week, Yetter-Bowman described the challenge of connecting that personal experience to a problem with global reach. Sharing their own struggles helped them build relationships with researchers and other people affected by contamination. The film includes residents of Wilmington and the wider Cape Fear area, placing their experiences alongside the broader fight over forever chemicals.
Yetter-Bowman credited community organizing and communication between researchers, journalists and residents with driving change. They said the research behind the pivotal 2017 coverage repeated a study conducted a decade earlier, but the earlier information had failed to reach communities in a way that spurred action. In September, Chemours reached a $590 million settlement with North Carolina and 11 nearby local entities. The company has nevertheless continued releasing PFAS into the river at illegal levels.
The documentary also incorporates a collaboration with the Paperhand Puppet Project, intended to offer audiences moments of imagination and relief amid difficult material. Yetter-Bowman and their partner, film producer Sammy Bauer, helped develop a four-act puppet performance filmed over three days. Only part appears in the documentary, with a separate release of the full puppet story planned afterward.
Beyond the screening, Yetter-Bowman and Bauer want the film to support organizing tailored to individual communities. Yetter-Bowman pointed to North Carolina communities whose public utilities need upgrades and described Wilmington’s experience as a potential guide for other towns confronting similar contamination.
