BendFilm Alumni Film Library

Plagues & Pleasures On the Salton Sea (2005) AWARD WINNER

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Fabulously offbeat and refreshingly upbeat, this lovable film gets friendly with the natives of the Salton Sea an inland ocean of massive fish kills, rotting resorts, and 120 degree nights located just minutes from urban Southern California. This award-winning film from directors Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer details the rise and fall of the Salton Sea, from its heyday as the "California Riviera" where boaters and Beach Boys mingled in paradise to its present state of decaying, forgotten ecological disaster. From wonderland to wasteland, PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA captures a place far more interesting than the shopping malls and parking lots of suburban America, a wacky world where a beer-swilling Hungarian Revolutionary, a geriatric nudist, and a religious zealot building a monument to God all find solace and community.
  • Year
    2004
  • Runtime
    74 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Director
    Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer
  • Producer
    Chris Metzler
  • Cast
    John Waters, Sonny Bono, Norm Niver
  • Editor
    Jeff Springer
  • Composer
    Bill Elm