A 1939 desert nerd fights Big Copper with a camera and chaotic determination.
Max Boden, an ingenuitive desert naturalist, is trying to stop the construction of a copper mine on the outskirts of 1939 Tucson, Arizona. Through a series of arduously comical trials, Max learns to use a small motion picture camera to capture images of the unique local flora and fauna that would be destroyed by the mine.
Practical Effects
Genuine 1930s camera equipment used throughout—no CGI desert here.
Production
Micro-budget Tucson shoot with local crews and real locations.
Director
Andrew Bergmann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Andrew Bergmann shot this over three years while teaching film at the University of Arizona, using students as crew.
The film draws from real 1930s Tucson conservation battles, when copper mining expansion threatened the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
US
