Bombay Beach
Hawthorne Library 2707 E. Washington Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53704
press release: 2011 / USA / Documentary / 80 min Bombay Beach is one of the poorest communities in southern California located on the shores of the Salton Sea, a man-made sea stranded in the middle of the Colorado desert that was once a beautiful vacation destination for the privileged and is now a pool of dead fish. Film director Alma Har'el tells the story of three protagonists. The trials of Benny Parrish, a young boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder, CeeJay Thompson, a black teenager who hopes to avoid the same fate of his cousin who was murdered by an LA gang; and Red, an ancient survivor, once an oil field worker, living on the fumes of whiskey, cigarettes and an irrepressible love of life. Together these portraits form a triptych of manhood in its various ages and guises.