Muckville (2023)

• 85%
• 2023
• Documentary
• Jeff Mertz

Chris Pawelski has almost run out of time. As a fourth-generation onion farmer on the post-glacial black dirt of Goshen, New York, he is just one of millions of farmers in America facing the unnecessarily Sisyphean task of earning a living. Muckville follows the story of Chris's family farm from the early 20th-century 'Polish wave' through climate change-driven crop failures in the 1990s and subsequent pitfalls of U.S. agriculture policy to his own resulting existential crisis. This short documentary provides rare insight into the impact of our national mental health epidemic on American farming and paints a delicate and emotional portrait of resilience and love amid unbeatable odds.