That America isn't as upwardly mobile as we all like to think isn't news. Cut down too much on income mobility, and society risks ossifying into castes. The responsibility for climbing the socioeconomic ladder remains, as it always will, on the individual, but for a long time, a lot of the rungs have been missing. Basically, low-income people and the middle class are now in the same boat - living near poverty, or an illness, lost job, or disaster away from poverty. Eight low-income and middle class families living in and around Portland, Ore., each of whom called 211info, a nonprofit referral organization, in search of help with paying bills, finding housing, or getting advice on how to weather the current financial downturn, are profiled in the documentary, American Winter, directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz (Taxicab Confessions, The Defenders). Shot over the winter of 2011-12, this powerful film reveals the human impact of budget cuts to social services, rising poverty and economic inequality and the fracturing of the American Dream.

AMERICAN WINTER, 6:45 p.m., The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, free by calling 253.572.5134

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