Buy Tickets Tickets $10, $8 Students, Seniors, Brattle Members | No Brattle Passes
Directed by Alma Har’el
The rusting relic of a failed 1950s development boom, the Salton Sea is a barren Californian landscape often seen as a symbol of the failure of the American Dream. A sea in the middle of the Colorado desert.
True to her roots as a photographer, video artist, and music video director, Alma Har’el crafts an adamantly atypical and artistically innovative film telling the story of of three protagonists: Benny Parrish, a young boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder whose troubled soul and vivid imagination create both suffering and joy for him and his complex and loving family. CeeJay Thompson, a black teenager and aspiring football player who has taken refuge in Bombay Beach hoping to avoid the same fate of his cousin who was murdered by a gang of youths in Los Angeles. And that of Red, an ancient survivor, once an oil field worker, living on the fumes of whiskey, cigarettes and an irrepressible love of life.
Together they make up a triptych of American manhood in its decisive moments, populating the Salton Sea’s land of thwarted opportunity.
Bombay Beach is a dreamlike poem that sets these personal stories to a stylized melding of observational documentary and choreographed dance, to music specially composed for the film by ZACH CONDON of the band BEIRUT, and songs by BOB DYLAN. The result is a moving and madly inventive documentary experience—an evocative, symbolic portrait of rural America and its inhabitants.
Visit the Bombay Beach official site at bombaybeachfilm.com
Emerging Cinematic Vision – Camden International Film Festival
Special Jury Mention – Sheffield Doc Fest
About The DocYard:
For decades, Boston has been a center for documentary filmmaking. It is a place where students come to learn and experiment, where some of documentary’s giants are teaching and creating new work, and where the craft is continuously nurtured and expanded. Today’s filmmakers are breaking new ground that has its foundation, more often than not, in Boston’s rich documentary legacy.
Celebrating what is innovative, interesting, and inspiring in documentary, The DocYard is a bi-weekly film and discussion series that takes place every other Monday. Their goal is to grow a vibrant, creative community for Boston’s filmmakers, film students and film lovers through each of these special events.
Visit The DocYard website for more information.
News & Reviews
Bombay Beach
Buy Tickets Tickets $10, $8 Students, Seniors, Brattle Members | No Brattle Passes
Directed by Alma Har’el
The rusting relic of a failed 1950s development boom, the Salton Sea is a barren Californian landscape often seen as a symbol of the failure of the American Dream. A sea in the middle of the Colorado desert.
True to her roots as a photographer, video artist, and music video director, Alma Har’el crafts an adamantly atypical and artistically innovative film telling the story of of three protagonists: Benny Parrish, a young boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder whose troubled soul and vivid imagination create both suffering and joy for him and his complex and loving family. CeeJay Thompson, a black teenager and aspiring football player who has taken refuge in Bombay Beach hoping to avoid the same fate of his cousin who was murdered by a gang of youths in Los Angeles. And that of Red, an ancient survivor, once an oil field worker, living on the fumes of whiskey, cigarettes and an irrepressible love of life.
Together they make up a triptych of American manhood in its decisive moments, populating the Salton Sea’s land of thwarted opportunity.
Bombay Beach is a dreamlike poem that sets these personal stories to a stylized melding of observational documentary and choreographed dance, to music specially composed for the film by ZACH CONDON of the band BEIRUT, and songs by BOB DYLAN. The result is a moving and madly inventive documentary experience—an evocative, symbolic portrait of rural America and its inhabitants.
Visit the Bombay Beach official site at bombaybeachfilm.com
About The DocYard:
For decades, Boston has been a center for documentary filmmaking. It is a place where students come to learn and experiment, where some of documentary’s giants are teaching and creating new work, and where the craft is continuously nurtured and expanded. Today’s filmmakers are breaking new ground that has its foundation, more often than not, in Boston’s rich documentary legacy.
Celebrating what is innovative, interesting, and inspiring in documentary, The DocYard is a bi-weekly film and discussion series that takes place every other Monday. Their goal is to grow a vibrant, creative community for Boston’s filmmakers, film students and film lovers through each of these special events.
Visit The DocYard website for more information.