LOGLINE
A love letter to our kindred avian neighbors: New York City’s pigeons—told by the New Yorkers who adore them (and even some who don't).
SYNOPSIS
Often dismissed as "flying rats", New York's pigeons are, in fact, resilient survivalists, and deeply connected with the city’s history and culture. Taking audiences on a journey into the hidden lives of our kindred avian neighbors, we explore their surprising intelligence, centuries-old relationship with humans, and the vital role they play in the city’s ecosystem.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
I love telling underdog stories. I love telling stories that have the potential to create impact and change perspectives, hearts and minds. I also love telling stories that feel urgent to me. When I first read Rosemary Mosco's book, "A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching," I knew this needed to be my next project, and I received permission from the author to adapt the book to film. While this is a short documentary, my aim is for this to serve as both a standalone piece as well as a strong proof-of-concept for a feature. There is so much story here, so much history between us and these birds. The relationship between humans and pigeons has been wholly symbiotic for thousands of years. Except when we didn't need them anymore, we discarded them like trash. The issue is, they never got that memo. They have stayed around us because it is in their nature to trust us, and rely on us. The success of our two species has been intrinsically linked for generations, and it is time to reexamine the relationship we have had (and continue to have) with these animals. As humans, we all share a responsibility in the telling of this story, so we will be hearing many different voices in this film, both recognizable voices and regular New Yorkers. We're shooting on 16mm (something I've always wanted to do) with a cinéma vérité approach. I'm envisioning this as an urban nature doc without any human subjects, though we are bringing on pigeon keepers with rooftop coops to achieve the looks we need. City walks and park days will fill in our b-roll, and we have some fantastic locations lined up. The focus here is on the birds, and presenting them in a way that will hopefully make people stop and think about their own feelings towards pigeons. As Rosemary writes in her book, "When we begin to care about creatures that most people think are lowly, we become better people." This is at the heart of what I'm trying to accomplish with this film, and I'm so excited to be a part of helping tell this story with my incredible team of collaborators.
KEY CREW
Adam Elliott - Director/EP
A New York City-based producer and filmmaker, Adam's short films and web series have screened all over the US and internationally. Previous producing and writing credits include the web series 'The Age of Insecurity' (Winner, LA Comedy Film Festival 2018) and 'Little Italy, Los Angeles' (Winner, HollyShorts Film Festival 2018), as well as the narrative short films 'Adam Adamson: Licensed Realtor' and 'A Best Man' (grant recipient of the inaugural Inwood Art Works Filmmaker Fund Award). He produced two narrative shorts from director Dylan Tuccillo, 'The First Time I Saw You' and 'Giant.' He produced the 2023 music video 'Reeling' for the Brooklyn-based female-led band Say She She. He served as a producer on the documentary short, 'Fink' about acclaimed American photographer Larry Fink (online premiere: NOWNESS). His self-produced documentary short and directorial debut, 'David Again' made its New York premiere at Tribeca Festival 2024 and international premiere at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2024 (Special Jury Mention). Adam currently serves on several film festival screening committees: ReelAbilities Film Festival NY, Salute Your Shorts Film Festival LA, and Project UnLonely Films, where he also serves as an ambassador for the nonprofit arm of the festival: The Foundation for Art and Healing.
James P. Gannon - Cinematographer
James is a self-taught filmmaker. He has directed 11 short films that have won awards at multiple film festivals including SXSW, Slamdance, Fantastic Fest, Palm Springs and Seattle. His latest short, Wrecked a Bunch of Cars, Had a Good Time had its world premiere at TIFF in 2024. His previous film, Deerwoods Deathtrap premiered at Sundance 2022 and went on to screen at over 30 festivals, winning a Special Jury Mention at the Aspen film festival and Oak Cliff. In April of 2023 it had a theatrical run in 7 cities across the USA. Online, his films collectively have over 500k views and have been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks and featured on sites like Roger Ebert, Wired, Upworthy, Short Of The Week and NoBudge. As a freelance director, James has created engaging work for The New York Times, Nordstrom, HGTV and GQ.
Andrew Grell - Producer
Andrew Grell is an American Film & Commercial producer who has produced projects that span from narrative feature, to documentary, and to branded content. Andrew has spent the past 5 years expanding his producing palette by taking on a larger variety of projects, from short films such as Sarah and the Animals (2023), to the Mike Tyson hosted podcast series Hot Boxin (2023), to his documentary project through sponsorship with Redbull On the Ledge. Andrew recently completed work on his first narrative feature Mad Bills to Pay (2024) which premiered at Sundance (2025) and Berlinale (2025).
Marissa Heringer - Producer
Marissa Heringer is a New York City-based Creative Producer with a passion for championing independent filmmakers. She also serves as the Program Manager at ReelAbilities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in the media industry, where she leads fundraising and programming efforts. Marissa works closely with Executive Producer Sheila Nevins, most recently contributing to the development of the 2025 Oscar-nominated short documentary I Am Ready Warden, directed by Smriti Mundhra. At MTV Documentary Films, a division founded by Sheila Nevins, Marissa played a pivotal role in expanding Paramount’s documentary library, acquiring and developing over 40 films, including five Academy Award-nominated titles. Notable projects like The ABCs of Book Banning, The Eternal Memory, 76 Days, Last Flight Home, Ascension, St. Louis Superman, The Fire That Took Her, and Finding Yingying have earned widespread recognition, garnering accolades such as Emmys, Peabodys, and DuPont awards. Marissa started her career at HBO in Digital Distribution.
Celia Aniskovich - Producer, Dial Tone Films
Celia Aniskovich is a NYC-based director and producer. Her career began in live broadcast news as an NBC Page before she transitioned into narrative and documentary filmmaking. She has directed, produced and developed numerous US & UK projects and her films and series have been broadcast around the world. In April of 2020, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, which Aniskovich co-produced, broke the top 5 most-watched shows on Netflix three days after it premiered. In July 2020, Fear City: New York vs the Mafia, which Aniskovich field produced, became the #1 most watched show on Netflix 24 hours after premiering. Celia also produced the successful, Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, for Lifetime. In 2021, Aniskovich released Spy Affair, a 6-part podcast series for Wondery Originals based on the story of alleged Russian spy, Maria Butina. She also wrote, directed, and produced BURN IT DOWN!, a feature documentary about Woodstock 99, for MRC Studios/Rolling Stone that had its world premiere at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival. Her other 2021 premiers include a feature documentary she executive produced and directed for Discovery+, Fruitcake Fraud (Nominated for a Realscreen Award), and a film she produced for HBO Max, Beanie Mania. Her most recent feature release, a documentary entitled Call Me Miss Cleo (Nominated for an Astra Award), premiered in December 2022 on HBO Max. In 2024 she had two short documentaries premiere - Facing the Falls, EP'd by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Taking Back the Groove, EP'd by Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan.
Cameron Taddeo - Editor
Cameron Taddeo is a Brooklyn-based editor and post production specialist working both on and off set in a variety of rolls. Hailing from northern New Jersey, he has been a force in the film industry for the past I0 years, editing feature films, shorts, music videos, commercials and documentaries, as well as assistant directing. His directing work includes the award-winning short film Restoration and assistant directing the feature film Mysterious Circumstance starring John Schneider. Commercial credits include work for Nike and Ralph Lauren. His documentary work includes editing Connecting the Dots: The Story of Feeling Through - about the acclaimed Oscar-Nominated short film ‘Feeling Through.' He edited the feature film C Street in 2016. He served as assistant editor for the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced feature, The Loneliest Whale, directed by Joshua Zeman. Recent feature films include The Unheard, Bad Shabbos, Barron's Cove and Mother's Milk starring Hilary Swank. Cameron served as the post-production supervisor for the feature film Bad Shabbos and as the editor/executive producer for the short documentary David Again, both of which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.
ACCOLADES
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