Sausalito filmmaker Ulysses Koda’s first feature is a contemplative, darkly erotic, and richly metaphorical fable. Shot on location while camped in the wilderness of Joshua Tree National Park, Garden of Carnivorous Plants examines the dynamics, desires, and instincts at play in an encounter between a young woman and man, who meet while hiking in a secluded desert valley. Its sumptuous, surreal cinematography is accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack of improvised piano and percussion, performed by Rema Hasumi and Satoshi Takeishi, and the mesmerizing ambient music of San Francisco artists Jorge Bachmann and Markus Hawkins.