International Uranium Film Festival

Film Program

3 pm - THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER - THE HIDDEN SIDE OF THE STORY

USA/Vanuatu, 2023, Director Philippe Carillo, Documentary, 52 min, English.

Unveiling the Truth: The Untold Story of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the terrible facts about nuclear energy exposed. Prepare to witness the untold story behind the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and its catastrophic impact on Japan and the world. In this compelling film directed by award-winning filmmaker, Philippe Carillo. It delves deep into the hidden horrors and long-lasting consequences of this preventable environmental tragedy, and exposes the vital information deliberately suppressed by the media and the Japanese government. The journey uncovers a web of deceit and negligence that have been kept under wraps from society at large. However, through the relentless efforts of dedicated whistle-blowers, scientists and medical experts, the film director brings to light the crucial facts that have remained concealed for far too long. This powerful and hardhitting documentary presents a mosaic of narratives, blending first-hand  ccounts from witnesses with insights from experts who understand nuclear radiation and its dangers. Featuring: Nobel Prize Nominee Dr. Helen Calicott, Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen, Former Japan Time Journalist Yoichi Shimatsu, Former Nuclear Industry Spokesperson Maggie Gundersen, Professor John Keane, Dr. Dan Harper, Former NASA Nuclear Scientist Randall Mielke, Yumi Kikuchi, Former Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Member of Parliament of Vanuatu Honorable Andrew Napuat.

4 pm - JADUGODA - THE LAND OF MAGIC

India, 2023, Director SATISH MUNDA, Producer, RAJAT AGRAWAL, Key Cast, HARISH KHANNA, CHANDA MEHRA, Short fiction, 20 minutes, Hindi, English subtitles In 1998, the town of Jadugoda also called the Land of Magic, is at India’s forefront for mining Uranium. The economic boost in India is catalyzing the nation’s dream to establish its name in the list of the world’s most powerful nuclear forces. However, due to this, Jadugoda is being continuously poisoned by the uranium mining dump. Aloof from the desire for nuclear power and geo-political warfare, the innocent and poor tribals in the town who aim to live a simple livelihood are suffering from these radiations daily. Men are getting scarred and crippled while women are giving birth to stillborn and disabled children. Many women are suffering from infertility too. As a result of this, families from nearby towns and villages are not willing to get their kids married to any person in this village, especially that to women. Dama, a 45-year-old farmer dreams of getting his only daughter, Rupni married. 

THE FORGOTTEN NUCLEAR VICTIMS (LES OUBLIÉS DE L’ATOME)

France/French Polynesia, 2023, Director Suliane Favennec, Producer Valérie Montmartin, Documentary, 56 min, Original Language: French, Tahitian with English subtitles.

From 1950 to 1990, France, the United-States and the United Kingdom dropped hundreds of nuclear bombs on the Pacific islands. At the cost of sacrificing the local populations. Each country plays the clock and hopes for the silent disappearance of the victims of the first generation. But the atom leaves more traces than expected. Genetic abnormalities and pathologies appear in new generations. They fight back and take their destiny in hand. When will the effects of the bombing stop? What is the future for the new generations? Are the major nuclear countries ready to pay? Driven by their conviction and helped by political and scientific personalities, children and grandchildren of the atom respond against these great nations.

5:30 pm - ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE: THE FALSE PROMISE OF A NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE

USA, 2023, Director Jan Haaken, Documentary, 47 min. www.atomicbamboozle.com

As pressure mounts in the US to meet net zero carbon goals, the nuclear power industry makes its case for a nuclear “ renaissance” to solve the climate crisis. In place of the highly costly reactors that have been shut down across many regions of the country, investors began in the early 21st century to promote small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as a technological solution. The film follows anti-nuclear activist Lloyd Marbet and attorneys Greg Kafoury and Lauren Goldberg as they draw lessons from the decades-long fight to shut down the Trojan Nuclear Power plant in Oregon and expose current campaigns to revive the industry. Climate activist Cathy Sampson-Kruse (Wallulapum member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation) points to the buried legacy of atomic weapons production and nuclear power generation at Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State and to its devastating impacts on tribal communities.

6:30 pm - ATOMIC GODS: CREATION MYTHS OF THE BOMB

USA, 2023, Director Adam Jonas Horowitz, mockumentary, 54 min.

ATOMIC GODS is a black-comedy, pseudodocumentary film that reveals for the first time the secret, unknown (and perhaps even forbidden), 'Creation Myths of the Bomb'. It centers on the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the birth of the Atomic Bomb; and also features God (in a special guest appearance), Adam and Eve, Prometheus, King Kong, Charleton Heston, and Moby Dick. The film also reveals previously unknown footage of the 'Atomic Gods' themselves in a daring prison escape from Alcatraz. The film navigates a dream world between Fact and Myth; combining the Real, with the Unreal, the Surreal, and the Hyperreal; along with new cartoons, and extremely rare, previously unseen, "Actual Footage." A biting satire that is at once both historical and futuristic, this dark and hilarious story serves as a post-nuclear fairy tale. With the presence of Adam Jonas Horowitz. He is a sculptor, performer, public installation artist and filmmaker of fiction and documentary films, unified by their effort to confront and contemplate spicy dilemmas of human rights and the environment in fresh, challenging ways.

8 pm - NUKED

Canada, 2023, Director and producer: Andrew Nisker, Documentary, 90 min.

The US detonated 67 nuclear weapons over the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands during the Cold War, the consequences of which still reverberate down four generations to today. "NUKED," is a timely new feature documentary focussing on the human victims of the Cold War Era nuclear arms race, tracing the displaced Bikinian's ongoing struggle for justice and survival even as climate change poses a new existential threat. Using carefully restored archival footage to resurrect contemporaneous islanders’ voices and juxtaposing these with the full, awesome fury of the nuclear detonations, NUKED starkly contrasts the official record with the lived experience of the Bikinians themselves, serving as an important counterpoint to this summer’s Oppenheimer.

WITH THE PRESENCE OF DIRECTOR ANDREW NISKER