DEAD SEA, CALIFORNIA - Where past-life echoes into the afterlife - and it's all been caught on tape.
Near-Death Experiences // Found Footage // Missing People - A film featuring real footage, real stories, and real events. Strange and mystical occurrences are known to occur in locations that lie below sea level; the Salton Sea is one such place.
In 1996, a young man suffering from epilepsy travels to the Salton Sea to recover lost memories - but memories don’t always record - they rewrite.
Decades later, his VHS footage replays a fragmented & mysterious puzzle. A series of existential vignettes and testimonials set against the backdrop of the Mojave Desert.
Producer’s Statement
When we first encountered the VHS tapes behind Dead Sea, California, we were struck by how they seemed to change with each viewing. Colors faded, images warped, and sound shifted. The medium itself felt like a living memory. The footage wasn’t just documentation; it was a fragmented archive rewriting itself over decades.
The film grew out of uncovering this material rather than producing it. It’s less a story we constructed and more one we discovered; a meditation on memory, decay, and longing for a life glimpsed through half-remembered moments. Dead Sea, California isn’t a ghost story - it’s an archive story, exploring how our recordings can outlive us and reflect truths we never fully understood.
Produced by Vid-Atlantic Media Productions. Featuring original music by Kevin Yost, Echo Path & more.
