Near-Death Experiences // Found Footage // Missing People // The Atomic Bomb // JellyFish
DEAD SEA, CALIFORNIA - Where past-life echoes into the afterlife - and it's all been caught on tape.
Evoking the fragmented poetics of Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil & La Jetée, the raw immediacy of Harmony Korine’s Gummo & Julien Donkey-Boy, and the dream logic of David Lynch, Dead Sea, California invites a similar audience.
Coming in 2026! Dead Sea, California is now being screened at Film Festivals Worldwide and in the distribution phase.
In 1996, a young man suffering from a traumatic brain injury travels to the Salton Sea to recover memories, but memories don’t always record; they also rewrite. Decades later, his VHS footage replays as a fragmented, mysterious puzzle.
A series of existential vignettes set against the Mojave Desert that explores the illusion of object and subject, and the quiet peace that follows when the two merge.
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.
Featuring original music by Kevin Yost, Fine China, Slow Salvation, Starflyer 59, Gileah Taylor, Blue Blue Youth, Bottle Conjuror, Floating Friction, Echo Path, Tobias Wilner & Blue Foundation, A.D. Peck, and more!
Watch the Film Festival teaser and the official trailer below
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A photo book and essay collection that showcases still photography from the feature film Dead Sea, California. Minimal numbers are being produced. Order now. Will ship in early 2026.