Jacob Fertig

Waiting Space

The LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment sits inside Homestake, an abandoned gold mine that is the largest and deepest in the Western Hemisphere. In Lead, South Dakota, where the mine is located, the townspeople were promised the multi-million dollar project would bring jobs and money back to the mining town. But, it turns out, both the researchers and the people who live there are still waiting.

Sandcastles

"Sandcastles" parallels two Singapores: one in Southeast Asia, and one buried on the western coast of Michigan. On top of sharing the same name, these two places also share a fraught relationship with sand. Singapore, Michigan was a thriving lumber town in the late 19th century until erosion from mass deforestation caused the sand dunes around it to shift and swallow the town whole. Just as quickly as Singapore, Michigan disappeared under sand, its namesake in the East emerged from it through land reclamation. The film weaves a narrative that intertwines the two Singapores to depict the temporal nature of human edifices built on and destroyed by nothing more than sand.