random walk productionsrandom walk productions Home






random walk productions
Season of the Sand Blossoms & Desert Gold

Now on DVD!
Season of the Sand Blossoms DVD
Season of the Sand
Blossoms/ Desert Gold
Click here to buy @
AMAZON.COM.

Native American Julia Parker preparing acorns
A Mojave Desert Spring: Painted lady butterflies on an Indigo Bush Aegis Award Winner Purple Mat flowers Costa's Hummingbird Black Thorned Prickly Pear Desert Wildflowers Guide
NEW!
Desert Wildflowers
Guide:

"For those who have never seen a desert in its full Spring splendor, this film shows it beautifully. It captures the feeling of big landscape; the quiet and solitude of being out in the desert."
The Arizona Native Plant Society

Experience a rare and magical time when the desert blooms and a seemingly desolate landscape bursts with color and life. Season of the Sand Blossoms and Desert Gold travel through the Southwest to tell the desert wildflowers' story.

Season of the Sand Blossoms the Gold medal award-winning environmental art film set to music, immerses viewers in the amazing world of flowers, butterflies, birds and wildlife that thrive during the desert's brief, abundant Spring.

In Desert Gold, a compelling award-winning documentary that has received international recognition, scientists and Native American tradition-keepers explain how and why the desert blooms. Desert Gold travels through the Southwest to tell the life story of desert wildflowers, revealing rare beauty, ancient history and a vital web of life that affects us all.

The disk includes a DVD Extra: a special version of Season of the Sand Blossoms called What Is That? which has subtitles that identify the more than 100 plants and animals shown in the film.

"As a Southern California native, our desert wildflowers are hardly new to me, but after watching Season of the Sand Blossoms, I felt I relived 60 years of desert visits in one sitting.

While the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club has fantastic mountain ranges and hence our namesake, it is protection of our deserts that occupy most of our efforts. Desert Gold, in such a short time, accomplishes so much in illuminating this fragile environment; to think such an innocent thing as a flower plays such an important role in this intricate web of life. This is a must-see film"

Sierra Club San Gorgonio Chapter Chair, Ralph Salisbury


AWARDS & HONORS

WINNER - GOLD AWARD
Nature and Wildlife - Season of the Sand Blossoms
(other gold award winner: National Geographic)

2006 Houston International Film Festival

WINNER - DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Desert Gold
2007 Aegis Awards

WINNER - PLATINUM AWARD
Desert Gold
2007 Houston International Film Festival


Official Selection and Tinny Award Nominee: Swansea Bay Film Festival 2007
Desert Gold
Swansea Bay, Wales


Official Selection: Twin Rivers Media Film Festival 2007
Desert Gold
Asheville, North Carolina


Palm Springs Desert Sun article "Wildflowers on film" features
Desert Gold
and Season of the Sand Blossoms
The Desert Sun; Palm Springs, California; April 21, 2007


Official Selection: 9th Annual Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival (2007)
Desert Gold
Seattle, Washington


Official Selection: EarthVision Film Festival 2007 Kick-Off Celebration
Season of the Sand Blossoms
Santa Cruz, California


Official Selection: 2006 Vermont International Film Festival
Desert Gold
Burlington, Vermont


Official Selection: 2006 Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival
Desert Gold
Napa, California


SCREENINGS AND PRESENTATIONS;

The Desert Institute

Palm Springs Public Library; May 8, 2007

The Living Desert
Palm Desert, CA: April 21, 2007

The Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix, AZ: March 10 & 11, 2007

Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park Association Visitor Center, February 18, 2007

U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center
Mono Lake, California; July 13, 2006


"You're in for a treat."
Barbara Lowell, The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, CA; April 21, 2007


Locations

Includes scenes from:
Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, California
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
Death Valley National Park, California and Nevada
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Mojave National Preserve, California
Mono Lake, California
Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona
Tonto National Forest, Arizona
Red Rock Canyon, California
Tuzigoot National Monument, Arizona
Yosemite National Park, California

and many more locations!

Details

Deserts are often considered wastelands, vast areas of little worth. In most years the casual traveler speeds through them and sees little to dispute this notion. In reality, desert lands are full of life waiting for the right moment to burst forth. This moment may only come every quarter or half century, but when it does a spectacular world of color and abundance reveals itself. Season of the Sand Blossoms and Desert Gold travel through the Southwest to tell the desert wildflowers' story.

Season of the Sand Blossoms explores the world of desert wildflowers; from sweeping desert views to delicate close-ups. Viewers find themselves at eye level with the amazing flowers, butterflies, birds and wildlife that thrive during the desert's brief, abundant Spring. The 12 minute environmental art film set to music has been hailed by many viewers as, "the most relaxing film I have ever seen," and, "a work of art." The Houston International Film Festival agreed, honoring it with the Gold Medal in the Nature and Wildlife category.

Desert Gold is a compelling 18 minute documentary in which scientists and Native American tradition-keepers explain how and why the desert blooms. They examine the growing cycle and how seeds can survive decades of drought, yet still know when to flower. The story traces the relationships among flowers, insects, birds and mammals as partners in a web of life that reaches far beyond the desert and explores the implications of human incursion on these magnificent, yet fragile lands. The role of wildflowers in the lives and traditions of Native Americans is featured.

The disk includes a DVD Extra: a special version of Season of the Sand Blossoms called What Is That? which has subtitles that identify more than 100 flowers and animals shown in the film.


Total running time: 42 minutes (Season of the Sand Blossoms 12 minutes, What is That? 12 minutes, Desert Gold 18 minutes)
Format: DVD compatible with all regions.

Special Guest Interviews with:

Richard Bugbee

Richard Bugbee
Richard Bugbee is a Native American from the Luiseño Tribe in San Diego County. He teaches Kumeyaay Ethnobotany at Kumeyaay Community College. He is also an Indigenous Language Mentor for the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, (ADVOCATES), which is dedicated to teaching techniques and activities to Native Nations to enable the survival of their languages. Mr. Bugbee's credits include Associate Curator and the Indigenous Education Specialist for the San Diego Museum of Man and Curator of the Kumeyaay Culture Exhibit at the Southern Indian Health Council. He wishes to help connect the youth of today with the wisdom and traditions of their People.

Dr. Barbara Collins

Barbara Collins, Ph. D.
Dr. Barbara Collins is a Professor of Biology at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California where she has developed an herbarium containing 5,000 plants. She is the author of a quartet of books on Southern California's flora as well as other botany and biology books. Her expertise has been instrumental in the writing of numerous environmental impact reports for Southern California projects. The Sears-Roebuck Foundation honored Dr. Collins with the 1991 Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award and she was voted CLU Professor of the Year in 1996. She has also encouraged her students to appreciate their environment and become involved in local land-use decisions.

Some of Dr. Collins' published works are: Key to Coastal and Chaparral Flowering Plants of Southern California (1972) and Key to the Trees and Shrubs of the Deserts of Southern California and Key to Trees and Wildflowers of the Mountains of Southern California (1974). These guides are notable for their friendly format and ease of use. The chaparral book is in its 3rd edition.

Kimball Garrett

Kimball Garrett
Kimball Garrett is the Ornithology Collection Manager of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The museum's collection holds 112,000 specimens - approximately 60% of the world's extant birds. In addition to his museum work, Mr. Garrett is widely known for his extraordinary ability to identify birds and their vocal signatures and is considered the preeminent authority on the birds of L.A. County.

Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Garrett has co-authored: Birds of the Los Angeles Region (2006), the Field Guide to Warblers of North America (1997) and the Birds of Southern California (1981).

HOW TO ORDER
Click here to purchase the DVD Season of the Sand Blossoms (includes Desert Gold) from Amazon.com.

For Wholesale price inquiries or to receive information about how to arrange screenings, call toll free 888-737-4562, or click here. Random Walk Productions creates exhibtion-quality films, from interpretive documentaries to environmental art. All Random Walk Productions' award-winning films are available for sale and screenings.

Season of the Sand Blossoms: A Desert Wildflowers Journey is for sale at the Visitor Centers and gift shops of:
Death Valley Natural History Association
Grand Canyon Association
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Joshua Tree National Park Association
The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Mono Lake/Inyo National Forest Visitor Center
Mojave National Preserve Kelso Depot
Mono Lake Committee Bookstore
Saguaro National Park
Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology

Xanterra Parks and Resorts gift shops at:
Grand Canyon National Park
Death Valley National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Zion National Park
Grand Canyon North Rim

Partial proceeds from all sales of Season of the Sand Blossoms: A Desert Wildflower Journey benefit efforts to study and preserve desert wildflowers.

All contents of this website © The Rhalter Group, Inc., unless otherwise stated. Reproduction is prohibited without the written consent of the Rhalter Group, Inc. This website and all images displayed is exclusively the property of Random Walk Productions and The Rhalter Group, Inc. unless otherwise stated. The Rhalter Group, Inc. is not affiliated with the Grand Canyon Association or any other organization or company. ©2006 The Rhalter Group, Inc.Thank you.