USA – 2011 – 80 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY ALMA HAR'EL

NON-THEATRICAL: AVAILABLE FOR TV, VOD & FILM FESTIVALS ONLY

BOMBAY BEACH IS COMING TO THE UK!!! And we're doing it BIG in 25 theaters with Dogwoof! http://dogwoof.com/films/bombay-beach Our premiere is on Jan 28th at the Wilton Theater ! Q&A with Director Alma Har'el right after. Here are more dates: Saturday 28 January London – Wilton's Music Hall – Q&A with Alma Har'el Friday 03 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Saturday 04 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Sunday 05 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Monday 06 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Tuesday 07 February London – Clapham Picturehouse London – Greenwich Picturehouse London – Hackney Picturehouse London – ICA London – Ritzy Cinema London – Stratford Picture House Aberdeen – Belmont Picturehouse Bath – The Little Theatre Brighton – Duke Of York's Picturehouse Bury-St-Edmunds – Abbeygate Picturehouse Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Edinburgh – Cameo Cinema Exeter – Exeter Picturehouse Henley-upon-thames – Regal Picturehouse Leeds – Hyde Park Picture House Liverpool – Picturehouse At Fact Norwich – Cinema City Oxford – Phoenix Picturehouse Southampton – Harbour Lights Picture House York – City Screen Picturehouse Wednesday 08 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Thursday 09 February London – ICA Cambridge – Cambridge Arts Picturehouse Newcastle upon Tyne – Side Cinema @ 19:30 – Ambassador Screening Friday 10 February London – ICA Saturday 11 February London – ICA Sunday 12 February London – ICA Monday 13 February London – ICA Tuesday 14 February London – ICA Wednesday 15 February London – ICA Thursday 16 February London – ICA Friday 17 February Belfast – Queens Film Theatre Bristol – Watershed Saturday 18 February Belfast – Queens Film Theatre Bristol – Watershed Newcastle – Tyneside Cinema Sunday 19 February Belfast – Queens Film Theatre Bristol – Watershed Monday 20 February Belfast – Queens Film Theatre Bristol – Watershed Tuesday 21 February Bristol – Watershed Newcastle – Tyneside Cinema Poole – Lighthouse Wednesday 22 February Bristol – Watershed Thursday 23 February Bristol – Watershed Sunday 15 April Penzance – Savoy Cinema Monday 16 April Penzance – Savoy Cinema Tuesday 17 April Falmouth – Phoenix Cinema St. Ives – Royal Cinema Wednesday 18 April St. Ives – Royal Cinema Monday 11 June Hastings – The Electric Palace BOMBAY BEACH IS AVAILABLE ON ALL DIGITAL PLATFORMS in the US THROUGH FOCUS FEATURES!!! http://focusfeatures.com/bombay_beach WATCH BOMBAY BEACH! on iTunes, Amazon etc... You can also Pre-Order the DVD FB - http://www.facebook.com/Bombaybeachfilm Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/bombaybeach www.Bombaybeachfilm.com Bombay Beach - A film by ALMA HAR'EL Music by BEIRUT and BOB DYLAN WINNER of Tribeca Best doc 2011 From the Tribeca catalogue - 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. First-time director Alma Har'el visits this poetically fruitful terrain in her distinctive documentary Bombay Beach, and finds there a motley cast including a bipolar seven-year-old, a lovelorn high school football star, and an octogenarian poet-prophet. Together they make up a triptych of American manhood in its decisive moments, populating the Salton Sea's land of thwarted opportunity. True to her roots as a photographer, video artist, and music video director, Har'el crafts here an adamantly atypical and artistically innovative film—a dreamlike poem that sets the personal stories of these distinctive yet familiar characters to a stylized amalgam of observational documentary and choreographed dance, with music by Beirut and Bob Dylan, all cast against the atmospheric scenery of the titular ghost town. The result is a moving and surreal documentary experience—an evocative, symbolic portrait of rural America and its inhabitants. Winner of the Tribeca film festival doc competition. For more info check out the official website: www.bombaybeachfilm.com

The desolate and surreal Salton Sea in California stands as a formidable metaphor for the broken American dream. The largest lake in all of California, was created when the Colorado River flooded the windswept desert, carrying the river’s entire volume into the Salton Sink over a period of approximately two years. A dam was built and water filled the basin — the Salton Sea was born.

At the height of American optimism in the 1950s the Salton Sea fueled a recreation boom, and the inland desert sea became an inviting vacation destination, catering to waterskiers, boaters, and fishermen. Billed as "Palm Springs-by-the-Sea,” and “the new Riviera,” the lake enjoyed immense popularity, especially among the rich and famous, as movie stars and recording artists flocked to the area. From Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra, and the Beach Boys, the lake became a speedboat playground. Restaurants, shops, and nightclubs sprang up along the sea, and on the eastern shore a new little resort town came to life under the name BOMBAY BEACH.

Today, after a series of floods, the lack of water outflow, and the high salinity that has killed off the fish, Bombay Beach is little more than a shanty ghost town in the poorest county of California. The broken-down signs from the ‘50s and the sunken, ghostly Marina are still there to remind the community of the dream that once was the Salton Sea — and is now a pool of dead fish in the middle of the desert.