Palm Rot
(eVideo)

eVideo

English

Title from title frames.

Greg Tonner

Originally produced by University of Southern California Cinematic Arts in 2014.

After seeing the smoke from an explosion on the horizon, an old weathered man leaves his island and goes to explore it in his airboat. At the site of the explosion he finds a pile of garbage and dead animals floating in the water. Suddenly there is another explosion and something shoots into the air like a rocket. The man goes to the source and finds a case of jars with some Chinese characters on the side. Inside the jar is a buzzing insect. A thought bubble appears from the jar and the man releases the insect. It immediately begins attacking him, finally exploding into the side of his head leaving an X shaped gash. Recognizing them as dangerous, the man tries to kill the next insect by pumping poison into its jar. Just when it appears dead, the insect starts to shake and the jar explodes into the man's hand. The motor of the air boat is ignited and the boat shoots into the air. When next we see the man, he is laying in the shallow water by the island, unconscious. The poison in the water begins seeping into the X gash and suddenly the man is sucked into a terrifying, psychedelic transformation. He flies through space and time and his cells are re-worked. After this ordeal, the man stands up in the water and looks toward his island. In the setting sun, he can see the palm trees begin to lift off from the ground and float into the sky. Official Selection at the **Sundance Film Festival** and **SXSW Film Festival**.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.