Austria / Germany 2023, 15 min, No Dialogue, No Subtitles
The opening shot is surreal: A camera floats upside down through rows of palm trees planted in the desert. The sound of a helicopter further adds to the dystopian atmosphere. This is the Sonoran Desert in California, where farming corporations exploit the local natural resources, land and water, for profit. Valley Pride—a desert spring, a tractor seeding the wasteland, lush greenery backdropped by arid mountains—is an ironic name for the process speeding up the collapse of the local ecosystem. In this stunning post-humanist visual study, human workers are almost completely erased, existing only in service of the machines—the harbingers of doom.
Previous Festivals: Locarno FF ((Honorable Mention of Pardi Verde Ricola Jury)), Bilbao - Zinebi Int. Festival of Documentary and Short Film, Stuttgart - Filmwinter, Expanded Media Festival (Short Film Award)
Human/Nature Shorts Competition The Shorts Official Website