AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, or: Looking for reflections in the toxic field of plenty

AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, or: Looking for reflections in the toxic field of plenty is a cinematic exploration of the Salton Sea— the largest lake in California, which is on the verge of ecological collapse— and the resilient communities struggling to survive within an increasingly dystopian ecosystem.

The film weaves together intersecting narratives, including the nation's highest asthma rates among children, the haunting memories of Native American tribal genocide, the echoes of military atomic bomb tests during the Manhattan Project, massive monocultural farming culminating in cataclysmic fish and bird die-offs, and the exploitation of immigrant laborers, to illuminate this idiosyncratic region.

Despite the larger area's agricultural abundance, the water level of the Sea has fallen by a good half a meter in just four years. With a maximum depth of ten meters, a full dry out appears imminent. The Salton Sea is also the site where hundreds of practice bombs were tested in the final phases of World War II leading into the Cold War. Starting in Utah, the film begins with a tour of the Museum of Nuclear Science & History to illustrate the connection between America's nuclear ambitions and the harm experienced by contemporary residents of California's Imperial Valley, as evidenced by the rapid decline of the environs surrounding the Sea. In a ceaseless quest for atomic supremacy, the U.S. poisoned a large swatch of itself, and yet the military maintains a continued presence in the area to this day.

This ticking environmental death trap is situated within the field of plenty found in the greater Central Valley. Beyond the toxic waters, the agricultural abundance is engendered by undocumented laborers who have settled in the reservation of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla. While tribal sovereignty shields the workers from federal immigration enforcement, they are subject to the toxic dusts that blows across this agricultural empire from the ground exposed by the Sea's receding waters. The Native stewards of this land recall memories of a thriving ecosystem and the healing properties of the plants that used to grow amidst a land now populated by salty bushes and chemical pollution.

Delving into the questions of historicity, AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB juxtaposes the claims of those who have traditionally held power to shape history with the voices of communities whose stories have been systematically erased over time. The film thus highlights the fluidity of a national narrative made up of intersecting interests at a time of resurgent nuclear rhetoric and ongoing attempts to whitewash American history.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "The film's overarching mission is to ignite a collective awareness of the ongoing environmental and socio-political catastrophe that has remained concealed for years. This silence, perpetuated by society's indifference to marginalized communities is contested by the enduring resonance of untold stories. From Native tribes to undocumented workers to a dying body of water, their stories, and their land, are calling for our reaction."

— Luxas Marxt

Preview link available upon request. Contact [email protected] for more information

Documentary Film - Among the Palms the Bomb - Video Project

A Film by Lukas Marxt & Vanja Smiljanic

85 minutes

Scene Selection • Closed Captioned

Grades 9 - Adult

Item #: APB-2083

Cinematic exploration of the Salton Sea area, California's largest lake– on the verge of ecological collapse– and the community residing in the dystopia

Starting at $99

Licensing Options

K-12 Classroom, Public Libraries: DVD - $99 K-12 DVD + Digital File - $149 Colleges & Institutions: DVD - $395 Colleges: DVD with Digital Site License - $495 K-12 School District pricing available. Please inquire at [email protected] Community Screenings: Please Complete 'Host a Screening' Form found on top menu bar

The item you are trying to purchase is currently out of stock.
Please enter your name, email, and phone number below.
We will contact you as soon as this product is available.

Name: *

Email: *

Phone: *

Verification: *

Type the word above...

Reviews and Festivals

"Interplay transforms these images into depositories of oral histories and lived experiences; these stories of exploitation, loss and Indigenous pain might not find a home in the official records, but they live on in this passionate documentary."

— The Guardian

"An extremely urgent and essential documentary. A monumental work, whose visual and communicative power hits us like a punch to the stomach."

— Marina Pavido, Cinema Austriaco

"Among the Palms the Bomb uses a micro view of the Salton Sea as an entry point to examine the macro issues that continue to impact environmental and human health on a larger scale... The film's power lies in the way it reminds us about the universality of the entangled interests and realities that influence possible solutions."

— Yuki Nakayama, Ecology Center Environmental Storyteller Rackham Fellow

"Lukas Marxt and Vanja Smiljanic’s co-directed feature encompasses not only the dense, destructive history of the atomic bomb but everything that came before and after: the community trauma, the ecological debris, and the lingering toxicity of an invaded environment."

— Caitlin Quinlan, Sonic Acts

"Marxt and Smiljanic succeed in bringing both of these perspectives together to highlight the urgency of the worsening environmental crisis not only from outsiders, like the local experts but also from the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians... Among the rows of palm trees near the Salton Sea, there is a history much deeper than the surface-level fact that bomb testing occurred there, something that the audience would do well to remember."

— Kristen Su, The Michigan Daily

WINNER

Lo Schermo dell'arte Festival di Cinema e Arte Contemporanea, Under 30 Audience Award

Ann Arbor Film Festival, Jury Award

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Vienna International Film Festival

CinemAmbiente

Lighthouse Film Festival

Ethnocineca Documentary Film Festival

Kasseler Dok Fest

DOK Leipzig

Hollywood Park Film Festival

Item In Cart

Demon Mineral

Starting at $99

Select Options

Item In Cart

To Use a Mountain

Starting at $99

Select Options

Item In Cart

Our Story - The Indigenous Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco

Starting at $69

Select Options

Item In Cart

Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1

Starting at $89

Select Options

Item In Cart

The River That Harms

Starting at $59

Select Options

AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, or: Looking for reflections in the toxic field of plenty

Select License (limited Public Performance Rights included)

Reviews and Festivals

related films

related subjects

AMONG THE PALMS THE BOMB, or: Looking for reflections in the toxic field of plenty

Select License (limited Public Performance Rights included)

Reviews and Festivals

related films

related subjects

Sign Up to Receive News & Updates

Lists*