Canton native Walt Ackerman Jr. is the subject of our micro-documentary, “You Can’t Help Me.” In his forties, Walt’s addiction to cocaine began. Though his addiction crippled his life in many ways, Walt’s powerful sense of hope is what inspired our film. “You Can’t Help Me” tells the story of a man and his enslavement to a dangerous habit.
One of the greatest difficulties we encountered in filming and producing our micro-documentary was harmonizing the raw truth of Walt’s story with our vision as artists. Filmmaking in any genre is necessarily a creative engagement. With “You Can’t Help Me,” we were forced to stop at every turn to consider whether our artistic decisions were aligned with the integrity of the story we were trying to tell.
When the credits roll, we hope that you will have come to know Walt as more than a cocaine addict, but as a man--a man who has experienced pain and joy, suffering and hope. Our desire is that you will understand Walt’s story as you would the story of a friend, accepting both the beauty and the pain of the truth simultaneously. We hope that we have shared a story that will provide a connection of love and understanding between subject and viewer.
