Flying High, Longlist - Short Film

Morongo

Oliver Clark & Blair Macdonald (Novemba)

Novemba Films

This is a documentary about Morongo Valley, and the people we met there. Leaving LA in a rented car loaded with our camera gear, we headed for the desert. We’d just spent a good few months pitching on commercials, developing ideas and plotting the next 'big thing'. We’d pounded away at our laptops long into the night, fuelled by a heady mix of angst and ambition, but the results were nothing tangible, a kind of anti-matter, a vacuum of creativity and feeling. This trip was an antidote to all of that. We had a burning desire to just get out there and film. We craved adventure, the thrill of the unknown, ready to let our gut, instinct and curiosity lead us. What could possibly go wrong? So we hit the road. After a couple of hours, not long past Palm Springs, we arrived at a small town carved into a narrow valley in the high desert. We pulled into the gas station to grab a cool drink. Outside we met a guy playing hacky sack with mesmerising skill and intensity. He introduced himself to us as J3, and said he’d glimpsed the fifth dimension. It was time to start filming. As the sun began to set across the valley that day, we decided we might as well stick around Morongo Valley, population 3,552. There was just something about it. This film is a depiction of the next 4 days spent in the town. Thank you to every person we met, spoke to, and shared a beer with in Morongo. Your warmth, generosity and character is something we’ll never forget. It was a real pleasure.