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CENTRAL LIBRARY - JOHN MCDONALD - Huell Howser’s Lost California’s Gold Episode
- Date: 03/07/2018 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
The Unseen Episode of California's Gold with Huell Howser
Wednesday, March 7, 7:00 p.m.
Downtown Central Library
222 East Harvard Street, Glendale CA 91205
Join us for a special screening of a “great lost episode” of Huell Howser’s acclaimed California’s Gold. We hope that you enjoy this special presentation of Huell Howser's lost California's Gold Episode: The Ghost Mountain Experiment. Please know that seating for 222 is first come/first served. If you are unable to attend the event copies of The Ghose Mountain Experiment are available for sale on John McDonald's website: http://www.ghostmountainmovie.com/
In 2010, television personality Huell Howser telephoned filmmaker John McDonald to make an unprecedented request. Howser had seen McDonald’s documentary, The Ghost Mountain Experiment, a story about a family who lived off the grid for seventeen years in San Diego County’s Anza-Borrego Desert, considered this story to be quintessential California’s gold and wanted to make an episode based both on the family and on McDonald’s fine documentary.
Due to Howser’s unexpected illness and untimely death as well as the cancellation of California’s Gold, Howser instead gave McDonald the unedited video master of this episode. McDonald completed the editing of Huell’s work and he will share with us this last nugget of California’s Gold!
The film screening will be followed by a Q & A session with filmmaker John McDonald. Copies of both the director’s cut of The Ghost Mountain Experiment and the lost episode of California’s Gold will be available for sale at this event.
The Ghost Mountain Experiment (62 min) is a feature-length documentary that explores why a family would choose to turn its back on civilization and what the costs can be. The Souths were a late blossom in the settling of the American West, a pioneer family in search of their American Dream. They yearned for the freedom to worship what Marshal called the Great Spirit and to live in concert with their own deeply held beliefs. They embraced the desert experience and discovered its true character beneath a stark veneer.
In the early days of the Great Depression, as seen through archival footage, the South Family had made the decision to leave all behind in their pursuit of a dream while struggling to become self-reliant in the desert. They took an even greater gamble that they could raise their children apart from people but focused on humanity. Coursing through all this was their unusual courage and commitment to make a difference. At this they succeeded, but at great cost. For them, the real failure of the “glorious experiment” was their own marriage. After all they’d been through, was it worth losing this? We offer no simple answer. But this can be seen as a cautionary tale that asks if it’s possible to get lost when one goes too far down the road less traveled. The story of Marshal South and his family raises the age old question of seeking balance in the strength of the thread versus the integrity of the fabric in the human pursuit of freedom and happiness.
Producer/Director/Cinematographer John McDonald has been a filmmaker for the past 35 years and established his production company, John McDonald Productions Inc., in 1980. The company produced award-winning projects for industry, education and television as a full-service provider, but John now dedicates himself exclusively to making documentaries about subjects he cares about. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the International Documentary Association.
Copies of both the director’s cut of The Ghost Mountain Experiment and the lost episode of California’s Gold will be available for sale at this event (cash, check, credit).
Visitors to the Downtown Central Library receive 3 hours FREE parking across Harvard Street at the Marketplace parking structure with validation at the service desk. Handicapped parking is available on the east side of the building. Short term parking spaces are available on the east and south sides of the building. Metered parking is available on Harvard Street and on the west side of the building in Lot #10.