Hollow Tree || Feature Documentary 2022

Hollow Tree follows three teenagers coming of age in their sinking homeland of Louisiana. For the first time, they notice the Mississippi River’s engineering, stumps of cypress trees, and billowing smokestacks. Their different perspectives — as Indigenous, white, and Angolan young women — shape their story of the climate crisis.

The film is supported by the Sundance Institute, Southern Documentary Fund, The Harnisch Foundation, IDA, Fork Films, and Tulane University’s Center for the Gulf South

Directed by Kira Akerman

Produced by Monique Walton, Jolene Pinder, and Chachi Hauser

Edited by Meryl O’Connor

Feature Documentary

Men in South Central Los Angeles find hope through their dedication to somersaulting pigeons.

Grants: 2017 Catapult Film Fund and True/False Film Festival Rough Cut Retreat attendee, 2017 Women at Sundance and Women in Film Financing and Strategy Intensive participant, 2017 IDA Emerging Filmmaker mentee, 2016 Pacific Pioneer Fund grantee, 2016 Rogovy Foundation grantee, 2016 Film Independent Forum participant, 2013 Film Independent Documentary Lab participant, 2013 Canon Filmmaker Award.

Official Selection: Seattle International Film Festival 2019, Pan African Film Festival 2020

Producer/Director/Cinematographer Milena Pastreich

Producers Michael Sherman and Matthew Perniciaro

Editors Meryl O’Connor, Victor Livingston, Alex O’Flinn

Official Selection: The Atlantic Selects 2019, Camden International Film Festival 2019, Rooftop Films Festival (in partnership with MOMA) 2019, Indie Grits 2019, New Orleans Film Festival 2018, DocNYC 2018

Directed by Kira Akerman

Edited by Meryl O’Connor

Official Selection: DocNYC 2018, The Climate Museum in NYC 2018, Imagine Science Film Fest 2018, Sheffield Doc Fest 2018, the UN Global Climate Summit in 2018, Indie Grits 2017, New Orleans Film Festival (Audience award) 2017

Directed by Kira Akerman and Sophie Tintori

Edited by Meryl O’Connor

Writer & Director: Patrick Brooks
Runtime: 13 min 25sec

In post-production

Starring:
Christopher Dylan White
Aria Alpert Adjani

When Jordan realizes he can’t leave his depressed mother home alone for the day, he brings her with him... on a college geology class field trip. This unexpected journey, to an ancient (and sinister) volcano in suburban New Jersey, not only tests the strength of their relationship, but also forces Jordan to confront the reality that only one of them might make it home alive.

Short Narrative Film

Official Selection: Vancouver International Film Festival 2018

Written and Directed by Patrick Brooks

Edited by Meryl O'Connor

TRT 11 minutes

Go to: Seen From Above website

By Brie Ruais

part of a Solo Exhibition at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, May 20 - June 24 2023

Run time: 9 min
Edited by Meryl O'Connor

An immersive video and audio installation at the Brandywine River Museum of Art that transforms the Museum’s third-floor gallery into a 4-channel, 4K video installation with accompanying multi-channel original sound composition--narrating the path of the Brandywine River and documenting the local communities through which it flows.

Directed by Dylan Gauthier

Edited by Meryl O'Connor