THE TASTE OF SALT
ABOUT.
"It's all up from here...when here is 223 feet below sea level."
THE TASTE OF SALT tells the story of a young man whose longtime girlfriend breaks up with him over the phone. Reeling from the early morning phone call, he decides the only way to mend his broken heart is the drive into the desert and get as low physically as he feels emotionally. He goes to Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, the second lowest point on the continent, where he can be cleansed – mind, body, and spirit – by the sites natural abundance of salt.
Shot on location at Bombay Beach, this short film has a running time of 9 minutes 43 seconds. It was filmed on a Canon 5D in full color with stereo sound. Copyright 2017.
THE TASTE OF SALT tells the story of a young man whose longtime girlfriend breaks up with him over the phone. Reeling from the early morning phone call, he decides the only way to mend his broken heart is the drive into the desert and get as low physically as he feels emotionally. He goes to Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, the second lowest point on the continent, where he can be cleansed – mind, body, and spirit – by the sites natural abundance of salt.
Shot on location at Bombay Beach, this short film has a running time of 9 minutes 43 seconds. It was filmed on a Canon 5D in full color with stereo sound. Copyright 2017.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
THE TASTE OF SALT was inspired by a visit to the Salton Sea on New Year’s day, 2016. I had spent the weekend with some friends in Palm Springs, and we’d decided over breakfast to drive out to have a look. For some reason, we skipped all the opportunities to get close to the lake until we reached Bombay Beach on the Northeast shore.
It was once a resort community, but is now mostly a ghost town. On the shore, there are remnants of docks and jetties, all sun-bleached and skeletal. There is something about the site – something almost eerie – which could be the overabundance of salt in the water, the soil, and the air, or the fact it’s the second lowest geographic point in North America at 223 feet below sea level. It’s beautiful and haunting at the same time
Back in Los Angeles, I did a little more research on the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach, which led to research on UFO sightings (the area ranks #13 in reports), and learning more about the historical value of salt. Amid the research, the germ of a story formed. I started thinking about what can be accomplished in a day - a day trip, on the road – and how salt as an agent for cleansing and protection could be utilized at the same time.
A friend of mine had just gone through a breakup with his longtime girlfriend. She’d just announced one day it wasn’t working and she left, but then she kept calling, and calling, and then calling his friends when he stopped answering. He accepted she was unhappy, and if she wanted it to be over, he would move on. However, every time she called, it opened up this emotional wound.
It all came together in a short screenplay – THE TASTE OF SALT.
I was excited to shoot on location at Bombay Beach. However, because of the lack of rain, and the continuing poor economy, many of the locations I’d included in the screenplay were unavailable – closed down and boarded up – when we finally were able to shoot in October 2016. Although it dictated certain changes to the film, I think the soul of the story remained intact, and we were able to capture the stark beauty of the location.
My sincerest hope is audiences will feel, and understand the self-imposed isolation of the lead character, and sense the cathartic journey he makes towards healing his broken heart.
Robert Hensley
Writer. Director.
Los Angeles, CA
January 17, 2016
It was once a resort community, but is now mostly a ghost town. On the shore, there are remnants of docks and jetties, all sun-bleached and skeletal. There is something about the site – something almost eerie – which could be the overabundance of salt in the water, the soil, and the air, or the fact it’s the second lowest geographic point in North America at 223 feet below sea level. It’s beautiful and haunting at the same time
Back in Los Angeles, I did a little more research on the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach, which led to research on UFO sightings (the area ranks #13 in reports), and learning more about the historical value of salt. Amid the research, the germ of a story formed. I started thinking about what can be accomplished in a day - a day trip, on the road – and how salt as an agent for cleansing and protection could be utilized at the same time.
A friend of mine had just gone through a breakup with his longtime girlfriend. She’d just announced one day it wasn’t working and she left, but then she kept calling, and calling, and then calling his friends when he stopped answering. He accepted she was unhappy, and if she wanted it to be over, he would move on. However, every time she called, it opened up this emotional wound.
It all came together in a short screenplay – THE TASTE OF SALT.
I was excited to shoot on location at Bombay Beach. However, because of the lack of rain, and the continuing poor economy, many of the locations I’d included in the screenplay were unavailable – closed down and boarded up – when we finally were able to shoot in October 2016. Although it dictated certain changes to the film, I think the soul of the story remained intact, and we were able to capture the stark beauty of the location.
My sincerest hope is audiences will feel, and understand the self-imposed isolation of the lead character, and sense the cathartic journey he makes towards healing his broken heart.
Robert Hensley
Writer. Director.
Los Angeles, CA
January 17, 2016