Filmed over the course of one summer in 2008. Photographer K.R.T. shot countless hours of mostly random and seemingly pointless footage of longtime homeless, east side local Ken. K.R.T. met struggling editor, wanna-be filmmaker Josh Laner at a local pot smoking dive just on the opposite side of the alley all this footage was being shot in around the same time. K.R.T. admitted to having no direction for the footage he was shooting and surrendered all the footage to Josh. After transcribing every second and re-watching the footage until there was a connection made to these subjects Josh had never met he began the task of editing it into a coherent story. 8 months into editing Josh finally got the courage to seek out Ken and his main accomplice Lisa to let them know he was working on a documentary about their lives. Ken and Lisa were immediately open and receptive to this project being done though neither has seen the finished product to my knowledge.
In 2010 the Bruxelles Fiction & Documentary Festival awarded "Wastings & Pain" a Special mention award. The film also received the Royal Reel Award in film making from the Canada International Film Festival.