“White Gold in Lithium Valley,” from filmmaker Celia Xavier, examines the politics, the science and the human drama unfolding on the precipice of progress, as huge multinational energy corporations, elected officials, environmental and social justice groups and average citizens bear witness.

The film’s premiere, held at the new Cambria Hotel in Imperial on Sunday, Oct. 20, brought together film fans, activists, scientists, energy executives and politicians, resolving in a somewhat tense audience Q&A with a panel of the film’s cast, including Imperial County District 4 Supervisor Ryan Kelley and Rod Colwell, chief executive officer of geothermal-lithium extraction developer Controlled Thermal Resources.

“I think people need to be aware, especially in that region, of everything that’s going on on both sides,” said Xavier in a phone interview after the local premiere. Both sides — the side of the lithium industry along with the Imperial County government, and the side of community environmental justice groups — were explored throughout the film’s short 24-minute runtime, and it’s clear that the promise of the vision of Lithium Valley — potentially bringing generational economic and environmental changes to the fabric of this region — has struck a nerve.

“I’m learning that the topic of lithium itself is very divisive,” said Xavier, who originally set out to make a 10-minute film on the environmental issues at the Salton Sea. She was surprised to learn about the potential that new lithium extraction technologies hold for the Valley, and so along with co-producer Shareen Ross, she set out to make a more in-depth piece. 

Taking a small grant from Culturas Music and Arts, a non-profit organization based in the Coachella Valley, and self-funding the rest, Xavier and Ross found their players and set the stage, interviewing people from every facet of Lithium Valley’s development.

“I want people to understand the new technology that they are using to extract this lithium, and I want renewable energy to be at the forefront of people’s minds,” Xavier said. “Because I do feel that that is where the future is going, and it’s coming at us very quickly I must say.”

The first part of the film takes a deep dive into the new lithium extraction process that energy companies are promising can remove the unprecedented amount of lithium from a reservoir 8,000 feet below the Salton Sea — 10 times higher in concentration than in the rest of the world. The process takes the heated brine from deep underground already used to create energy in geothermal plants, and brings it through a secondary stage where lithium ions are extracted from the brine before it is injected back into the earth. 

Experts in the film presented their case for this new science, and some politicians and community activists responded, saying that the technology is new, untested and potentially damaging to the environment. Some residents don’t want to be strung along by more broken promises, with companies investing huge amounts of money in the region only to leave the community behind, one cast member said.

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