Ryan speaks with documentary filmmaker, Jonathan Berman, about his film, Calling All Earthlings, based on the life and work of George Van Tassel. In 1947, George Van Tassel, a Howard Hughes employee and confidante, suddenly quits working for his mentor and ditches the straight life, moving deep into the Mojave Desert where he and his family sleep under a rock. He leaves behind a tattered Los Angeles in the grips of postwar paranoia, opting for the quietude of the Joshua Tree area. It is during an August 1953 full moon that Van Tassel has an encounter with extraterrestrials, who give him the information to build a rejuvenation machine he dubs “The Integratron.” Is Van Tassel crazy or could the Integratron really work? FBI agents try to halt the army of eccentrics who gather in the desert to create a collective, possibly threatening reality on the edge of the American Dream. A gentle inquiry into alternative culture, the story is told by the current residents of the Joshua Tree area, who must defend against rampant militarism and commercialization, all while still waiting for their spaceship.
Watch Calling All Earthlings: https://tubitv.com/movies/514481/calling-all-earthlings
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