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Standing in the present, you are poised between the future and the past…FOOLS GOLD: CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP in an ELECTION YEAR is about a Western American landscape and the dream of a better tomorrow. What is the nature of our “work” and how does that impact us, our surroundings and the environment? America’s West, where the good life includes sustainable income, development of land use, the rise of this town— witness the horror of its crash and burn.
FOOL’S GOLD: CALIFORNIA ROADTRIP IN AN ELECTION YEAR
references the theme of greed and envy told through popular legends and stories of the livelihood and moral fiber of a once wealthy, small, and rural American mining community after a corporate layoff and its ensuing exodus; as told thru interviews with the remaining elderly population. Historic facts spanning the Gold Rush and the 1980’s of Reagan’s presidential years, comments about “consciousness” and visuals of CAIN & ABEL, Zombies as “insatiable consumers” found in Michael Jackson’s THRILLER dance sequence, and desert landscape of PINNACLES Monument and DEATH VALLEY, display an American mindset that effects war and its economic circles, the housing crisis and global financial change, and the love for consumer products and celebrity.
We are drawn into a bizarre mixture of landscapes that include; a mining town, its adjoining attraction of unique prehistoric rock formations used by Hollywood for sci-fi sets, a salt lake bed and the mineral wealth of borax incorporated, along with personal stories of elderly residents who experienced the live-work experiment that eventually resulted in a mass layoff and exodus.
The edit weaves together different genres revealing actions, desires, and mindsets similar to those who gravitated to out West during the era of Manifest Destiny. Scientific and historic facts about the Gold Rush, the 1980’s and current times, entwine with the story of Cain’s intention towards his brother Abel, and Zombie horror that, acted out in movies, none the less parallels human desire and consumption.
The films intermix includes: actors in poses based on Tintoretto’s Renaissance painting of CAIN & ABEL; references to the unconscious action of man told thru the Zombies of Michael Jackson’s 1983 THRILLER dance sequence presented at the Tribecca Film Festival THRILLER’s 25th Anniversary Celebration; commentary by Dr. Theodore Dimon, Jr. and Marta & Frank Russo of the horror theme based M/F GALLERY in Brooklyn NY.
The edit combine historic facts; titles from Von Stroheim’s film GREED (based on Frank Norris’ novel McTEAGUE) and landscapes: SEARLES (salt) LAKE; Chevlon Steps & China Lake Navel Base’s Native American petroglyphs paying homage to water; Death Valley and the PINNACLES National Natural Monument and NYC’s WORLD TRADE Memorial Site.
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