Audio By Carbonatix
Keep Phoenix New Times Free
We’re aiming to raise $10,000 by April 26. Your support ensures New Times can continue watching out for you and our community. No paywall. Always accessible. Daily online and weekly in print.
Long before celebrities snatched up property in Scottsdale and snake-oil salesman James Ray stood trial for sweat-lodge deaths in Sedona, mavericks and hucksters were staking a claim on Arizona’s scanty resources, constructing cake-shaped buildings, and burying themselves under pyramids.
Two such visionaries — mega-developer Del Webb, the powerhouse builder of Sun City, and Wilhelm Reich, the controversial psychiatrist who supposedly discovered a primordial cosmic energy he named “Orgone,” — are pitted against each other in David Sherman’s film Wasteland Utopias.
Interweaving found footage and interviews, the award-winning experimental filmmaker explores the impact of urbanization on Arizona’s Sonoran Desert by juxtaposing the stories of these two radically different utopian thinkers.
The cinematic duel begins at 7 p.m.; viewers are invited to a Q&A session with Sherman after the film.
Wed., July 13, 7 p.m., 2011
