Merete Mueller is a writer and documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores our relationships with built and natural environments and has included in-depth reporting on climate change and infrastructure, as well as intimate stories about body image, homes, and belonging. Merete's short and feature-length films have screened at SXSW, Hot Docs, DOC NYC, The Brooklyn Museum, and via Netflix, The New York Times' Op-Docs series, and The New Yorker.

In 2015 I read a news article about an exploratory program showing "nature imagery" to people in prison. At the time I was making films about environmental issues, and I was interested in how our environments shape our emotions. I contacted Nalini Nadkarni, a forest ecologist involved with the program and, after three years of conversation, I was given permission to film in two of the participating prisons. The prison system has become our country’s largest mental health provider, but most prisons are not equipped or designed to play this role. If a person is struggling emotionally they often end up in solitary confinement. In some cases, these nature videos were seen by prison staff as a possible alternative. During allotted downtime or in high-stress situations, individuals could request to visit the “blue room” to watch nature clips.

This film focuses on their experiences while watching. I hoped their perspectives might shed light on our human relationship to nature, and the effect of being held in an environment that is, by design, largely cut off from it. I am incredibly grateful to each person who appears in this film. It was a privilege to be present with them, and this film invites audiences to do the same, to slow down and become quiet, and to fully process the experiences they are sharing. And to feel the contrast between the stark, industrial environment of prison, and the natural world that exists just beyond its walls.