First Salton Sea Film Festival airs today
EL CENTRO -- Local viewers will be able to enjoy the first Salton
Sea Film Festival from their comfort of their homes. It is set to air today at 8 p.m. on FOX9 TV.
The festival will present a total of seven, three- to five-minute films that highlight environmental concerns and other issues regarding California’s largest lake.
A panel of 10 judges made up of regional professionals in the independent film and TV industry will select first-, second- and third-place winners, with awards of $500, $350 and $250, respectively. Viewers will be able to vote online for an audience choice winner, who will receive a $500 prize.
After the films premiere on FOX-9, they will be available to view online at Facebook/ Salton Sea Film Festival and YouTube/Salton Sea Film Festival.
The film festival is the brainchild of local filmmaker Roy Dorantes, owner of RD Media.
He is collaborating on the event with Imperial Valley Cancer Support Center, which is operating as the festival’s fiscal agent.
Sponsors of the event include Imperial County and the Imperial Irrigation District.
Submissions for the contest were due by midnight on Oct. 18. Dorantes said he received about two dozen entries overall, but many were disqualified for a variety of reasons, such as exceeding the allowed running time or using unauthorized materials such as copyrighted music. Eligible filmmakers also had to be residents or former residents of Imperial Valley.
Dorantes said the idea behind the film festival was to continue raising awareness of the intertwined environmental and health problems surrounding the Salton Sea.
He pointed to a recent statistic indicating there is more than 24,000 acres of playa that has been exposed as the sea has receded. Wind-borne plumes of dust raised from the dried seabed endanger respiratory health throughout the region and threaten the local economy as well.
“I love the Salton Sea,” Dorantes said, “but it is like loving a time bomb.”
He said the films being showcased this evening took very different approaches to talking about the sea. For instance, one is framed as a love letter to the sea, another as a science fiction tale and a third as an original music video. He said he found the different takes on the subject “very exciting” and “very informative.”
The festival is the kickoff to a series of year-long free workshops teaching the community how to use video production to document and share their environmental concerns, such as the Salton Sea.
The workshops will culminate in a second Salton Sea Film Festival in 2021, date to be announced. The workshops will be offered online or otherwise, depending on the status of the pandemic.
For more information, contact Roy Dorantes, saltonseafilmfestival@gmail.com, FB/Salton Sea Film Festival, (760) 234-1940.