BEHIND THE LENS goes from The Shannon O’Brian Chronicles to the Salton Sea this week with our special guests, JENNESS ROUSE and GREG BASSENIAN.
First up is the incredibly talented JENNESS ROUSE who is back for her third visit to #BTLRadioShow and boy does Jenness have a lot to talk about thanks to her award-winning improv web series of shorts – THE SHANNON O’BRIAN CHRONICLES. If you haven’t watched this series, you need to. Now! Jenness as her alter ego Shannon O’Brian is HILARIOUS. Listen as Jenness tells us how the flu and a tube of neon pink lipstick led her to Shannon and how that turned into a global festival love fest for the web series, the character, and for Jenness as creator, director, performer. Energetic and effervescent as always, a fun time will be had by all with Jenness around!
And then we move on to a very sobering subject – our environment and California’s Salton Sea – with filmmaker GREG BASSENIAN who joins us to talk about his latest documentary MIRACLE IN THE DESERT: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SALTON SEA. An unfolding environmental disaster of extraordinary magnitude, the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, is drying up. Ecosystems are being destroyed, millions of fish kills and toxic dust clouds are occurring. This could prove to be the worst environmental disaster in the state for a generation. A powerful and insightful documentary, listen as Greg talks about his inspiration for the documentary, especially as a native Californian, his guerrilla filmmaking from finding experts to speak with, crafting an ever-developing throughline, doing his own lensing and lighting (some beautiful imagery!), editing, finding objectivity and balance within the information imparted, and so much more. MIRACLE IN THE DESERT: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SALTON SEA is available now on digital platforms AND has some upcoming drive-in showings in the Palm Springs area.
