As The Manhattan Project
developed, hundreds of
test bombings were
carried out in an
accidental lake that's
come to be known as
The Salton Sea.
Located in
California's Imperial
Valley, the state's
largest lake is
located in a region
that's essential for
American agriculture,
migratory birds, and
largely stewarded by
the Torres-Martinez
Desert Cahuilla
tribe. Decades after
test bombings have
ceased, the region
and its residents
are now struggling
with their ongoing
reverberations in
the form of looming
ecological collapse.
AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, or: Looking for
reflections in the
toxic field of
plenty weaves
together
intersecting
narratives,
including the
nation's highest
asthma rates among
children, the
haunting memories of
Native American
tribal genocide,
massive monocultural
farming culminating
in cataclysmic fish
and bird die-offs,
and the exploitation
of immigrant
laborers, to
illuminate the
continued extractive
use of this
idiosyncratic
region.
At a time of resurgent nuclear
rhetoric and ongoing
attempts to sanitize
our national past, the
film challenges the
notion of a single,
static, and benevolent
American history.
Perpetual
institutional
digital site
licenses (DSL) and
DVDs with PPR are
available
To
host a community
screening, please complete this form
