Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea

Frog Jesus
Canada / 1 min / Dir: Ben Peters / Experimental / 2007 / Australian Premiere
A nostalgic voyage takes a darker turn, exploring the naivety of mankind through the eyes of the young.

Voor een paar knikkers meer (For A Few Marbles More)
Netherlands / 11 min / Dir: Jelmar Hufen / Short / 2006 / Byron Premiere
Four children are kicked out of their favourite playground by two aggressive drunkards. When they realize their parents are not going to help them, there’s only one solution. They have to find a way to get the toughest boy in the neighbourhood to help them.        

Process Enacted
USA / 3 min / Dir: Jordan C. Greenhalgh / Experimental / 2007 / Australian Premiere
It took almost 1,000 Polaroid images to create this fascinating experimental stop motion film.

Lot 63, Grave C 
Australian/USA / 10 min / Dir: Sam Green / Short / 2006 / Australian Premiere
The name of Meredith Hunter, the man killed by Hell’s Angels at a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, has been almost totally forgotten. Filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) seeks out what may be the final reminder of Hunter’s existence, an unmarked grave.

The Sunshine Man
New Zealand / 5 min / Dir: Peter Robert Tonks / Short / 2006 / Australian Premiere
For just one easy payment, you too can escape the disappointment and heartache of your existence.  For a limited time only, The Sunshine Man offers you the golden opportunity to see life as he does.           

Coach Captains
Australia / 15 min / Dir: Jacqui Treagus / Documentary / 2006 / World Premiere
Many would say the job of a long distance Coach Driver is an easy one - just a matter of driving people from A to B. That's about all there is to it...or is it?

I Hate Musicals
USA / 20 min / Dir: Stewart Schill / Short / 2007 / Australian Premiere
A man who hates musicals is cursed to sing them.

Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea
USA / 83 min / Dir: Christopher Metzler / Documentary / 2006 / Byron Premiere
In the middle of a harsh desert valley in California’s southeast corner lies a glimmering blue jewel - the Salton Sea. Along its desolate shores stand boarded-up motels, dusty rural towns, half-flooded vacation homes and miles of sun-crisped fish carcasses. Amid this surreal and apocalyptic landscape survives a most unusual and unexpected group of eccentrics who have carved out their own slice of paradise on the shores of this ecological disaster. Through their perceptions and misperceptions, the strange history and unexpected beauty of the Salton Sea is revealed. Narrated by John Waters, This is an epic western tale of fantastic real estate ventures and failed boomtowns, inner-city gangs fleeing to white small town America, eternal optimism thriving among the remains of failed vacation destinations and the subjective notion of success & failure amidst the landscape of the American Dream.
Best Environmental Film Nominee.