Among the Palms the Bomb, Or: Looking for Reflections in the Toxic Field of Plenty

Among the Palms, The Bomb is a cinematic exploration that rounds up a seven-year-long research of the Salton Sea – the largest lake in California that is on the verge of ecological collapse, and the resilient community struggling to survive within this dystopian reality.
The highest asthma rates among children in the United States, chronic nosebleeds, the haunting memories of Native American tribal genocide, the echoes of military atomic bomb tests during the Manhattan Project, the massive monocultural farming culminating in cataclysmic fish and bird die-offs, and the exploitation of illegal immigrants, are just a few of the narratives that come together and define the Salton Sea.
The Historic Wendover Airfield Museum in Utah, a former military base that in 1944/45 played a pivotal role in the development of the Atomic Bomb, is the starting point of the film.
Delving into the question of who holds the right to narrate history, the film juxtaposes the narratives of those who have traditionally held power to shape history with the voices of tribal communities whose stories have been systematically erased over time, as well as other marginalized communities whose right to speak up has been taken away.
The film’s overarching mission is to ignite a collective awareness of the ongoing environmental and socio-political catastrophe that has remained concealed for years. This silence, perpetuated by society’s indifference to marginalized communities is contested by the enduring resonance of untold stories. From Native tribes to undocumented workers to dying body of water, their stories, and their land, are calling for our reaction.