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Event
Plagues & Pleasure on the Salton Sea
In Person: director Chris Metzler
The Salton Sea was once known as the "California Riviera," featuring yachting, fishing, beaches, and nightclubs. Today, the Salton Sea is one of America's 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 the beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary Hunky Daddy. 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 50's 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, the Salton Sea has a bittersweet past. 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. Hair-raising and hilarious, part history lesson, part cautionary tale, and part portrait of one of the strangest communities you've ever seen, this is the American Dream gone as stinky as a dead carp. (USA, 2006, 73 min., color)
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LocationCinema Arts Centre
423 Park Ave
Huntington, NY 11743
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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Contact
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