Mantis and Moon

Financial documentaries

and award-winning motion pictures and nature documentaries

Wants and Needs: the sequel

Co-hosted by Tom Hegna and Van Mueller.

The first film's predictions have come true.

What is Wants and Needs?Coming up

Coming up

What's next

Wants and Needs

What is Wants and Needs?

Wants and Needs is our documentary about recessions and the generations who live through them. It began before the last recession and kept filming through it.

It laid out 12 premises, many of them predictions that had not happened yet. It aired on public television for 10 years.

11 proven. One still out.

Now comes the sequel, co-hosted by Tom Hegna and Van Mueller.

The 12 premises
Wants and Needs, 60-second spot (1:00)

Hosting the sequel

Van Mueller and Tom Hegna

Co-hosts of the Wants and Needs sequel.
Van Mueller
Van MuellerCo-host
Tom Hegna
Tom HegnaCo-host

Our track record

Everything we've made has gone somewhere.

  1. Two men on the red carpet in front of a Hollywood HD Festival step-and-repeat banner.

    2005

    Out of the Shadows

    Our first full-length motion picture. Winner at the Hollywood International HD Festival, held at Paramount Studios.

  2. Thunder on the Farm, honorable mention at the Rural Route Film Festival.

    Thunder on the Farm

    Shot in Cap's backyard. Public television ran it nationwide for 15 years.

  3. Thunder on the Mountain, honorable mention for use of natural sound at the 7th Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival.

    Thunder on the Mountain

    Filmed in Costa Rica. Two honors at the Montana CINE International Film Festival.

  4. The Wants and Needs cover: two men in suits stand before an American flag, above three officials at a hearing.

    Wants and Needs

    Aired on public television for 10 years. Its predictions have come true.

  5. Gold text on black: For thousands of years the lake saw no change. So many years have passed, that now a whole summer seems to pass in just one day. The same two loons return every year to practice their rituals and raise their young.

    Thunder on the Lake

    Picked up by public television.

  6. The Society title card, with the words Blowing Smoke beneath it, lettered in silver over drifting smoke.

    The Society

    Release coming.

The work

Three films

Each one is shown as it stands today: released, in distribution, or still in the edit.
Wants and Needs, 60-second spot (1:00)

Wants and Needs

Status: Released

Why do recessions keep coming back? Six years of interviews and C-SPAN footage look for the answer in the generations who live through them.

Wants and Needs began before the last recession and kept filming through it. Over six years, Cap Averill II interviewed hundreds of people and worked through volumes of C-SPAN footage from Washington.

Interviews by Cap Averill II

About the film: Wants and Needs
Thunder on the Lake, opening clip (0:14)

Thunder on the Lake

Status: National distribution with public television

A summer on northern lakes, passing in a single day.

Thunder on the Lake is the third film in the Thunder series. It was shot in Alaska, Ontario, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

About the film: Thunder on the Lake
The Society, title teaser (0:11)

The Society

A love story meets a legal drama, shot in Sylvania, Ohio and Bogotá, Colombia.

The Society is Mantis and Moon's second full-length motion picture, after Out of the Shadows. It is part love story, part legal drama.

About the film: The Society

Music videos

Olds Cool

Rock and roll on real instruments, played by people, for the sake of a good jam. No MIDI. No quantizing. No auto-tune.
  • “Everybody”Olds Cool · 5:57
  • “Good Woman”Olds Cool · 4:56
  • “Writing on the Wall”Olds Cool · 4:14
  • “Mending Fences”Olds Cool · 3:39
  • “Left Behind”Olds Cool · 4:35
  • “No Apologies”Olds Cool · 2:56
  • “The Intervention Song”Olds Cool · 2:34
  • “Slow Motion”Olds Cool · 3:30
All 14 videos, studio and live

Festival honors

Awards and accolades

Each honor is listed as it was given. So far they have gone to Thunder on the Farm, Thunder on the Mountain, and Out of the Shadows.

Thunder on the Farm

  • Thunder on the Farm, honorable mention at the Rural Route Film Festival.

    Honorable mention

    Rural Route Film Festival

    2007

  • Thunder on the Farm, honorable mention for use of natural sound at the International Wildlife Film Festival.

    Honorable mention

    International Wildlife Film Festival

    Use of natural sound

    2007

  • Thunder on the Farm, official selection at the Ozark Foothills Film Festival.

    Official selection

    Ozark Foothills Film Festival

    2007

Thunder on the Mountain

  • Thunder on the Mountain, honorable mention for use of natural sound at the 7th Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival.

    Honorable mention

    7th Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival

    Use of natural sound

  • Thunder on the Mountain, honorable mention for creative approach at the 7th Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival.

    Honorable mention

    7th Annual Montana CINE International Film Festival

    Creative approach

Out of the Shadows

  • Out of the Shadows, winner at the Hollywood International HD Festival.

    Winner

    Hollywood International HD Festival

    Best full-length motion picture

    2005

  • Out of the Shadows, official selection at the Hollywood International HD Festival.

    Official selection

    Hollywood International HD Festival

The awards page