El Mar La Mar (2017)

An immersive and enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the USMexico border El Mar La Mar weaves together harrowing oral histories from the area with handprocessed 16mm images of flora fauna and items left behind by travelers Subjects speak of intense mythic experiences in the desert A man tells of a fifteenfoottall monster said to haunt the region while a border patrolman spins a similarly bizarre tale of man versus beast A sonically rich soundtrack adds to the eerie atmosphere as the call of birds and other nocturnal noises invisibly populate the austere landscape Emerging from the ethos of Harvards Sensory Ethnography Lab JP Sniadeckis attentive documentary approach mixes perfectly with Joshua Bonnettas meditations on the materiality of film Together theyve created an experience of the border region like nothing youve seen heard or felt before