Muckville

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“Muckville” is an upcoming short documentary which examines the ongoing mental health and suicide epidemic on American farms through the eyes of a 4th-generation onion farmer in New York’s Black Dirt region.

Chris Pawelski almost ran out of time.
As a 4th-generation onion farmer on the post-glacial black dirt of Goshen, NY, Chris is just one of millions of farmers in America facing the unnecessarily Sisyphusian task of earning a living. "Muckville" takes us on a journey through time on the Pawelski farm, from Polish immigration in the early 20th century, through the onset of climate change-driven crop failures in the 1990s and subsequent pitfalls of US agriculture policy, to Chris's resulting existential crisis and suicidal ideation. This short documentary provides rare insight into the ongoing mental health epidemic on American farms, and paints a delicate and emotional portrait of resilience and love amid unbeatable odds.

Directed, photographed and edited by Moonbow Imaging.

COMING SOON: Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River

"Seven Sentinels" is an upcoming feature-length documentary which explores the architectural, geopolitical, and social history of the Hudson River’s seven remaining lighthouses, as told by the people interpreting and caring for them today.

Directed, photographed and edited by Moonbow Imaging. Commissioned by the Hudson River Maritime Museum. Coming 2024.

In Your Land

In Your Land is an experimental documentary installation that explores the relationship between native NYC bird species and their immediate urban environment. Filmed across a handful of days in Jamaica Bay, Governors Island, Central Park, and Prospect Park, it aims to subvert perceptions of urban wildlife as merely peripheral/incidental by depicting the diverse and thriving ecology that pervades the city. The piece consists of two video panels and a stereo audio environment, independently looping in separate intervals to procedurally create unique juxtapositions between its components.

A companion app installed on tablets adjacent to both panels provides visitors with the opportunity to explore different bird species as they appear on screen.

Photographed and edited by Jeff Mertz / Moonbow Imaging.
Score composed, recorded and mixed by Finnegan Shanahan.
Score performed by Finnegan Shanahan (guitar/vocals), Robby Bowen (percussion/vocals), and Jeff Mertz (vocals).
Companion app designed and programmed by Paul Hine.

This work was produced in association with the NYC Audubon's 2017 summer artist residency on Governors Island, and later commissioned for the group show Avifauna at Wave Hill, April-June 2018.

Eitt Sinn Fjall

(“Once a Mountain”): A visual poem based on observations in and around Skagastrond, Northern Iceland.

Installed at The Factory Art Exhbibition, Djupavik, Iceland, Summer 2020

Children of Blue

An experimental nature documentary shot, edited, and directed by Jeff Mertz that examines the lifestyles of three Icelandic shorebird species.

Featuring an original score by the ineffable and pure Finnegan Shanahan. You can find this soundtrack and more of his work at his Bandcamp.

Phenomenal graphic design work by the lovely and kind Emily Dubovoy.

Children of Blue was filmed on location in Skagastrond, Iceland in July 2016 at Nes Artist Residency. More about Nes here.

The Interstate

An experimental documentary collaboration with NYC-based composer-friend Finnegan Shanahan.
A catalogue of a day in the life of an Interstate and the transient states of the people that inhabit it.