Imperial Valley, one of the most important projects in California’s agricultural industry, first appears as a vast river in the middle of a desert. As we fly over its long canals, parallel lines of earth and vegetation, viewed from a distance at great speed, form increasingly abstract landscapes, drawing us into an endless spiral. The hypnotic power of the images is intensified by the repetitive and disturbing electronic soundtrack: the visual and sonic rhythm, speeding up then slowing down, heightens the feeling of vertigo, leaving us momentarily suspended as if riding a roller coaster. In this film, Austrian artist Lukas Marxt, who also studied environmental science, raises questions about ecology, the natural and the constructed, reality and fiction and how they merge in the present. “Imperial Valley” is his first work to be presented at Curtas Vila do Conde. (RM)