EAST LANSING, MI - Based on his filmography, you might think Troy Hale has an affinity with bodily functions.
The documentary filmmaker’s first feature in 2016 was “Fart: A Documentary.” Six years later, out comes “Sh*t Saves the World,” which covers the looming environmental problem of dealing with human waste.
It’s not that Hale’s No. 1 or No. 2 focuses are farts, poop or the environment. He just goes to whatever he finds interesting.
“I just like to make good stories,” he said. “And this just happened to be that story.”
“Sh*t Saves the World” is available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and other streaming services as of Tuesday, July 6. The distributor Gravitas Ventures released the documentary in the U.S., and it will be available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The documentary, which won some international awards, covers the issues caused by “mountains of” human waste, such as how to dispose of it and how not dealing with it causes diseases for humans and other animals, Hale said.
“The problem is there’s 8.5 billion human beings on the earth and we all create waste, and that waste goes into our waterways and onto our land,” he said.
“It’s basically that we have we have mountains and mountains of s---,” he said. “So what what can we do with it?”
While the issues covered in the film have serious real-world consequences, Hale strives to strike a comedic balance with the material in the vein of comedian Jon Stewart. He also wanted to avoid a feeling that he saw in other environmental documentaries that there are no solutions to the issues he presents in the film.
“I think a lot of environmental films are ‘here’s the problem, but there’s no solution.’ In this film, we have a lot of solutions,” he said, pointing out how waste can be used to make power or recycled into manure or even sent into space.
“I love the fact that, yeah, it’s a problem, but also there’s people that are doing stuff for the solution on this,” he said.
Hale, a journalism and film professor at Michigan State University with a background in television, worked with current and former students on this project. He specifically pointed out the help of former student Zoe Kissel, who served as editor and a producer.
“It’s more professional experience than it is a classroom experience,” Hale said. “So it’s not really an assignment. It allows them to see things on a different level than a classroom level.”
The film was mostly self-funded, Hale said, though the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism provided a little initial support when the project was meant to be a short film. Once it grew to feature length, Hale put together his team with his own funds, he said, before connecting with Gravitas Ventures for distribution.
The current era of documentary filmmaking allows for more playful documentaries covering a range of subjects, Hale said, pointing to things such as Tiger King on Netflix. He is happy “Sh*t Saves the World” is part of that cinematic ecosystem.
“I think we’ve taken some of the formality out of the medium. That introduces younger people to it,” he said. “I think that’s great, especially now as another instructor and I are heading up a documentary Capstone class at MSU. We have students that are really interested in that line of work.”
As for this current movie, one line encapsulates the whole experience. One of the people interviewed in it tells Hale, “I can talk s--- all day.”
Read more from MLive:
‘She had spunk’: Wife of former MSU president remembered for founding Safe Place shelter
Ann Arbor’s Best Food: Shrimp & grits at Thompson & Co. offer classic southern comfort
Permanent fencing built at Michigan State University after Brendan Santo drowning