According to Deadline, Celia Aniskovich, director of Call Me Miss Cleo, is directing and producing a new documentary focusing on New York City’s Christmas tree trade. The film currently has a working title, The Merchants of Joy, and is coming from the company behind War Game and Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Boat Rocker as well as Dial Tone (Aniskovich’s company) and Epic Magazine.

The documentary will focus on five families, who are just as much cutthroat capitalists as they are extreme Christmas enthusiasts, as they go through the process of selling as many trees as they possibly can to a hustling and bustling New York City.

The documentary started off as an Epic Magazine article published in December 2022, but morphed into a documentary that Aniskovich has been working on since January 2023, according to Epic Magazine’s cofounder, Joshua Davis: “What we didn’t realize is that the Christmas tree business is a year-round, white-knuckled hustle, which Celia began filming with extraordinary passion in January of 2023.”

Serving as the film’s executive producers are Todd Lubin and Jack Turner for Boat Rocker’s Matador Content as well as David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg for Boat Rocker. In addition, Dial Tone’s Aniskovich and Zoe Vock will serve as producers alongside Epic Magazine’s Josh Bearman, Joshua Dsavis, and Arthur Spector.

Commenting on the film, Aniskovich stated, “I founded Dial Tone Films to tell stories of human connection…The Merchants of Joy is a love letter to the people that make Christmas happen in New York City, year after year.”