The Mist in the Palm Trees

One man's journeys through space and time are chronicled using footage shot over the course of the 20th century in this experimental drama from Spain. Santiago Bergson (voice of Ana Villa) was a Spanish physicist who helped create the atomic bomb as part of America's "Manhattan Project." Or at least that's what he says; taking Bergson at his word, he also invented the x-ray, collaborated with Orson Welles on the legendary "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, served with French resistance forces during World War II, and was a noted erotic photographer. Bergson's impressive resumé is due in part to his discovery of the secret of time travel, but his cosmic voyages have caused him to erase nearly all evidence of his deeds, and years after his death his three daughters (voiced by Mirtha Ibarra, Isabelle Clerc, and Carmen Suárez) not only have trouble recalling the story of Bergson's life, they can't even agree on such basic details as where they lived or what sort of dog they owned. Comprised entirely of archival film collected from a number of libraries across Europe, La Niebla en las Palmeras (aka The Mist in the Palm Trees) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.