Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Producer
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Buy the DVD at www.saltonseadoc.com
Male
102 years old
Bombay Beach, CALIFORNIA
United States
Last Login: 9/30/2009
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Mood:
weird
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Film Bio
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| Website | saltonseadoc.com | | Influences | The odd, off-beat, weird, and surreal. Folks like Errol Morris, Ross McElwee, Penelope Spheeris, Spike Jonze, Oliver Stone, and Gus Van Sant. | | Directors | Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer. | | Awards | HBO Producer’s Award - Savannah Film Festival, BAVC Videomaker Award, Robert Altman Award, and 33 Awards for Best Doc. | | Festivals | Slamdance Film Festival Independent Film Festival of Boston San Franicsco DocFest Palm Springs Intl Film Festival True/False Film Festival Lausanne Underground FF Santa Barbara Intl Film Festival Silverlake Film Festival Detroit Docs Savannah Film Festival D.C. Independent Film Festival Cucalorus Film Festival Denver Underground Film Festival Provincetown Film Festival Milwaukee Intl Film Festival Santa Fe Film Festival Idaho Film Festival Bend Film Festival Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival Hot Springs Documentary Festival Atlanta Underground Film Festival Edmonton Intl Film Festival Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival Portland Intl Film Fesitval Minneapolis/St. Paul Intl FF Rhode Island Intl Film Festival Atlantic Film Festival Jacksonville Film Festival Maryland Film Fesitval Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival Maine Intl Film Festival Wild & Scenic Environmental FF Texas Film Festival Newport Beach Film Festival Ohio Independent Film Festival Texas Documentary Tour USA Film Festival Melbourne Underground FF Rural Route Film Festival Rooftop Film Series Planet Ant Film Festival Southside Film Festival Plymouth Independent FF Wild River Film Festival Docville Camden Int’l Film Festival American Conservation Film Festival Wildscreen Missoula Int’l Wildlife FF Tacoma Film Festival Evil City Film Festival Tallgrass Film Festival Connecticut Film Festival Charleston Documentary FF MassBay Film Festival California Indie FF Estes Park Film Festival
| | Professional Affiliations | Docurama Sundance Channel Cinema Guild Roco Films KQED BAVC |
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Interests
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| General |  | | Music | Friends of Dean Martinez, Throw Rag, Sonny and Cher. | | Movies | Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea. | | Television | Huell Howser's "California's Gold" and Showtime's "This American Life." | | Books | Lost America, Salt Dreams, and Greetings from the Salton Sea. | | Heroes | Sonny Bono. |
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fishbone2006, Tucson FILM, Environmentalists, The Michael Krasny Appreciation Society, Taxidermy Enthusiasts of America, Taxidermy-stuffing is fun, Georgia Underground, Poetic Policy
View All Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Groups
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Details
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| Status: | Swinger | | Hometown: | Bombay Beach, California | | Zodiac Sign: | Scorpio |
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Schools
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| Films: 2 |
Total Plays: 27087 |
Plays Today: 0 |
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Run Time:
509
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Plays:
1211
Comments:
1
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Run Time:
211
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Plays:
25876
Comments:
54
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Latest Blog Entry
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's Blurbs |
About me:
Buy the DVD at the
Plagues & Pleasures website.
A feature documentary directed by Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer, with narration by legendary counterculture filmmaker John Waters and music by the southwestern, alt-rock supergroup, Friends of Dean Martinez.
Once known as the California Riviera, the Salton Sea is now called one of Americas worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Yet a few hardy eccentrics hang on to hope, including a roadside nudist waving at passing European tourists, a man building a religious mountain out of mud and paint, beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary Hunky Daddy, and the real-estate Ronald McDonald known simply as The Landman. Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed.
Accidentally created by an engineering error in 1905, reworked in the 50s as a world class vacation destination for the rich and famous, and then suddenly abandoned after a series of hurricanes, floods, and fish die-offs, and finally almost saved by Congressman Sonny Bono - the Salton Sea has a bittersweet past.
Now amongst the ruins of this man-made mistake, these few remaining people struggle to keep a remodelled version of the dream alive. However, this most unique community is now threatened by the nearby megalopolises of Los Angeles and San Diego, as they attempt to take the agricultural run-off that barely sustains the sea. The fate of this so-called ecological time bomb and the community that surrounds it remain uncertain, as the Salton Sea might just dry up.
While PLAGUES & PLEASURES covers the historical, economic, political, and environmental issues that face the sea, it more importantly offers up an offbeat portrait of the eccentric and individualistic people who populate its shores. It is an epic western tale of fantastic real estate ventures and failed boomtowns, inner-city gangs fleeing to white small town America, and the subjective notion of success and failure amidst the ruins of the past. Hair-raising and hilarious, part history lesson, part cautionary tale and part portrait of one of the strangest communities youve ever seen, this is the American Dream gone as stinky as a dead carp.

Find out more about the people and place at the
Plagues & Pleasures website.
Read reviews at the
Internet Movie Database - IMDB.
Check out the Plagues & Pleasures FLICKR page.
Watch the brand new short on Salton Sea resident, Leonard Knight at
PBS' Independent Lens.
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Who I'd like to meet:
Those with an affection for the off-beat, environmental, and unusual.
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