Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea

2006 FESTIVAL
70 min.
Once known as the “California Riviera”, the Salton Sea is now called 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 paint, a beer-loving Hungarian Revolutionary named Hunky Daddy, and the real-estate “Ronald McDonald” known simply as The Landman. Hair-raising and hilarious, this is the American Dream, stinky as a dead carp. Warning: Brief nudity makes this film inappropriate for children under 16.