‘Desert Rose’ is a highly personal vision of 1950’s Las Vegas where casinos, hotels and the nuclear test site of the desert reveal the seamy underside of American culture. This nightmarish reality, which is more sinister and tragic than mere glitter, vice or gambling is seen through the eyes of a film-maker whose rich visual language is expansive in its scope. The iconic value of the American landscape is strong – the minimalism of Ansel Adams, the interiors of Walker Evans, the texture and colour of Georgia O’Keefe and the lyrical freedom of Stan Brakhage are living references in a work which remains personal yet hauntingly powerful.