Feet in Water, Head on Fire

With Terra Long in person 

Dir. Terra Long. Canada. 2023, 90 mins. In English, Cahuilla, and Spanish with English subtitles. An invisible line connects California to parts of the Middle East and North Africa, where similar climates provide ideal growing conditions for date palm trees. Using textural 16mm, filmmaker Long surveys the arid California landscape along the San Andreas Fault—from microscopic plant cells to macroscopic pans of the golden mountains—and zooms in on the lives of those whose livelihoods are dependent on the trees’ sweet fruits and the exoticism they lend the region. Interlacing personal stories with historical images, Feet in Water, Head on Fire explores how a landscape and community have been shaped by shifting trends. As one of the film’s subjects says, “the dates will likely survive us all.” New York premiere 

A Science on Screen selection.

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.

---

About the Filmmaker:

Terra Long is a filmmaker whose work circles cultural, personal, and natural histories embedded within landscape. She lives and works on the traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Feet in Water, Head on Fire (2023) is her first feature; earlier work has screened at venues worldwide, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, EXis, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Media City Film Festival, among others.