Since 2011, the International Uranium Film Festival has shown world-wide movies and documentaries about the risks of radioactivity and nuclear power. After the screenings in Berlin from October 9th to 14th, the festival will travel this year to the Southwestern United States from November 29th through December 9th. Here is the schedule provided by the Uranium Film Festival:
Uranium Film Festival in the American Southwest 2018 Schedule
NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 1, WINDOW ROCK, Navajo Nation Museum
DECEMBER 2, FLAGSTAFF, venue not yet selected
DECEMBER 8, ALBUQUERQUE, Guild Cinema
DECEMBER 9, SANTA FE, Center for Contemporary Arts Cinematheque
First 16 films selected / Film list alphabetical
Marshall Islands, 2018, Directors Dan Lin & Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, poem video, English, 6 min.
Art & Awareness: A powerful poem video about the legacy of the US atomic bomb tests on the Marshall Islands and the Runit dome nuclear waste site in the Enewetak Atoll. https://www.kathyjetnilkijiner.com (link is external)
Australia, 2015, Produced and Directed by Kim Mavromatis and Quenten Agius, MAV Media in Association with NITV (National Indigenous TV Australia). Documentary, Australian English and Australian Aboriginal (Antikirrinya) with English subtitles, 5 min.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s the Australian government authorised British Nuclear testing at Emu Field and Maralinga in Outback South Australia. We journey with Antikirrinya Elder, Ingkama Bobby Brown to his homelands in outback South Australia where he explains the legacy of living with British Nuclear testing - how he witnessed the first tests on the Australian mainland at Emu Field (1953) and experienced the devastating affects of radioactive fallout on his family, people and country. This is the first time Bobby has spoken out about what he witnessed when he was a boy - what happened to his family and country and the people who went missing - during British Nuclear testing. British Nuclear testing was a breach of the King's Letters Patent, the founding document that established the state of South Australia (1836), which granted Aboriginal people the legal right to occupy and enjoy their land for always. How could they occupy and enjoy their land when their land was being blown up and irradiated by nuclear fallout. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740001","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740001","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410%C2%A0" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740001","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740001","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/119231410 (link is external) - www.kingsseal.com.au(link is external)
Crying Earth Rise Up (link is external)
USA, 2014, Documentary. Director: Suree Towfighnia | Producer: Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann. Documentary, Original Language: English, 57 min, https://www.cryingearthriseup.com(link is external)
Crying Earth Rise Up tells the story of two Lakota women’s parallel search for answers to the question: Why are there high levels of radiation in our drinking water and how can we protect our families and community against this threat? The documentary is an intimate portrait of the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on sacred water. It tells a timely story of protecting land, water and a way of life.
USA, 2018, Director & Producer Kelly Whalen, Art-documentary, English, 8 min
When images of everyday Navajo life began appearing at a monumental scale on abandoned buildings, roadside stands and water towers across the Four Corners region, it was a surprise for many in the community to discover it was the work of Chip Thomas (aka Jetsonorama), a long-time resident known by many as a healer of another kind. https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/261408010(link is external)
Half Life: The Story of America’s Last Uranium Mill
USA, 2016, Director: Justin Clifton, Documentary, English, 12 min
In Southeastern Utah, not far from many of America’s famed national parks, lies America’s last remaining uranium mill. After more than 36 years in operation, the leaders of the nearby
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s White Mesa community worry that lax regulations and aging infrastructure are putting their water supply, and their way of life, at risk. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/161080821","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740006","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/161080821" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/161080821","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740006","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/161080821(link is external)
The 12-minute film, “Half Life”, is designed to draw attention to ongoing contamination and regulatory failures at the White Mesa Mill, and to the mill’s role as a keystone in the North American uranium industry. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Uranium Watch, and the Grand Canyon Trust have all used the legal and regulatory process, including the Trust’s ongoing citizen suit in federal district court, to exert pressure on the mill owners and regulators. However, the White Mesa Mill has never received large-scale public attention; indeed, even local residents are largely unaware that the mill receives some of the most toxic wastes (ISL and alternate feed) in North America as well as ore mined across the Colorado Plateau. „Half Life” is more than a film about the White Mesa Mill in Southern Utah, it is a call to action to become informed on our energy issues in the United States and demand that our clean air and water be preserved. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/half-life-story-americas-last-uranium-m...(link is external)
Hatutaki - uranium (link is external)
Tanzania/Germany 2016/17, Director Sophie Filip, Producer Robert Cordes, Music video, English, 5 min.
The music video informs about the dangers of uranium mining and about what would happen if it took place as recently planed in the area of Bahi in Tanzania. The Rapper Wakazi is calling for resistance. The video should serve as means to create awareness in Tanzania and the whole world on the topic of uranium mining in Bahi. The Chorus is sung by the Tanzanian group the Harmonies and Sophie Filip. The Beat was produced by Crispy Gold in cooperation with Swahili Records and musicians from Hamburg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KywqYKXtS2Y(link is external)
UK, 2017, Directors Joshua Portway and Lise Autogena, Producer Lise Autogena, Documentary, Danish and Greenlandic with English subtitles, 30 min
The film is a work in-progress, forming the first part of the artists’ long-term investigation into the conflicts facing the small, mostly indige
nous, community of Narsaq in southern Greenland. Narsaq is located next to the pristine Kvanefjeld mountain; site of one of the richest rare earth mineral resources deposits in the world, and one of the largest sources of uranium. Greenland is a former colony of Denmark, which is now recognised as an “autonomous administrative division” of Denmark, supported economically by the Danish state. Many people see exploitation of mineral deposits as the only viable route to full independence. For generations the farming near Kvanefjeld has been Greenland’s only agricultural industry. This way of life may soon be threatened, as Greenland considers an open pit mine proposed by Greenland Minerals and Energy, an Australian company. The mine would be the fifth-largest uranium mine and second-biggest rare earth extraction operation in the world. Autogena and Portway’s film portrays a community divided on the issue of uranium mining. It explores the difficult decisions and trade-offs faced by a culture seeking to escape a colonial past and define its own identity in a globalised world. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740008","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146%C2%A0" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559740008","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/214697146 (link is external)
India, 2017, Director Shri Prakash, Documentary, English, 66 min
The American Southwest—especially the Indigenous nations of Acoma, Laguna, and the Diné or Navajo Nation—has a long history of
uranium mining. Once home to a booming economy and proudly called the Uranium Capital of the World, these Indian reservations and poor white communities are now littered with old mines, tailings dams, and other uranium contamination, which is the legacy of this deadly industry. On the Navajo Nation alone, there are more than 500 abandoned uranium mine sites that need to be addressed. This film explores how colonialism has changed face in modern time, as it is played out in a new quest for mineral resources. Contaminated land, water and air have left these communities helpless. Their efforts to gain justice have failed. Indigenous and poverty-stricken communities who suffered the most are trapped and exploited, as new mining companies continue to disregard the health and environment of these people with the lure of a better economy, jobs and new In Situ Leach uranium mining methods - fracking. Unfortunately, this is the same sad story repeated in other parts of the world including India, but in India it is the government itself undertaking the enterprise and repeating the same degradation in Jadugoda in state of Jharkhand. https://www.facebook.com/Shriprakash23(link is external)
Nuclear Waste Land?(link is external)
UK / Australia, Director Timothy Large, Production Thomson Reuters Foundation, Documentary, English,14 min.
An Australian government plan to build a nuclear waste dump in the foothills of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia’s biggest mountain range and an iconic tourist attraction, has sparked debate over the nation’s nuclear future that highlights a familiar tension between quick economic gain and long-term custodianship of land occupied by Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years. Traditional landowners call the proposal “cultural genocide” and a desecration of sacred sites rich in archaeological importance to indigenous Adnyamathanha people, while proponents see the promise of jobs and infrastructure. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gpt46ofCXs(link is external)
Marathon For Justice(link is external)
USA, 2016, Director Brian McDermott, Documentary, English, 44 min
“Marathon for Justice" tells the story of past and present environmental inequalities in the United States, and explores some of the ways in which Indigenous peoples and people of color have been disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals and poisonous releases in the air, on the land, and in the water. The film introduces us to communities around the country who have experienced the detrimental effects of pollution, contamination and the degradation of their lands, and shows how these citizens are mobilizing in the long race for justice. The film takes us to Thoreau, New Mexico, where we learn about some of the consequences of past uranium mining on Najavo lands and meet Darlene Arviso, the Navajo "water lady" who has been delivering drinking water for the past eight years to 250 homes on the Eastern Navajo Reservation… Ultimately, Marathon for Justice connects the dots from environmental inequality to broken treaties and exploitation of lands to the current and future environmental crisis facing all people who breathe air, drink water and wish to live in a more sustainable world. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/193431644","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750002","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/193431644%C2%A0" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/193431644","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750002","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/193431644 (link is external) and http://www.marathonforjusticefilm.com(link is external)
USA, 2018, Director Louis Berry, Documentary, English, 13 min
Tale of a Toxic Nation is the story of a nation rich in resources but weak in political influence. The Navajo Reservation has been left with over 500 abandoned uranium mines, toxic surroundings and an impossible clean up. The story has never been more relevant under an administration threatening to restart uranium mining in the area. https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750004","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/258337365(link is external) - To follow the story head over to: facebook.com/taleofatoxicnation/
THE REPOSITORY (link is external)
USA, 2017, Directors Daria Bachmann & Anna Anderson, Documentary, English, 80 min.
The Repository is an independent journalistic documentary about the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The goal of this documentary is to tell the history of Yucca Mountain and explain the conflicting views on the proposed repository. In 1987, the U.S. Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act designating Yucca Mountain in Nevada's desert as the nation's sole repository for nuclear waste storage. Officials in Nye County, the host of the proposed nuclear waste repository, support the project, but the majority of Nevada's officials, residents and members of the state's delegation oppose the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. While proponents of Yucca Mountain say that the project could boost the economy of the state of Nevada, many scientific, safety, regulatory and political challenges to the project remain to this day. The state of Nevada filed over 200 technical and legal challenges including environmental, safety and transportation concerns with the project. The future of the project now rests on the Trump administration. In January, it allocated $120 million for a restart of the licensing of Yucca Mountain in the budget blueprint. However, the final action on the budget is yet to be taken. https://www.therepositorymovie.com(link is external)
The Safe Side of the Fence (link is external)
USA. 2015, Director Tony West, Documentary, English,108 min.
"World War II's Manhattan Project required the refinement of massive amounts of uranium, and St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Works took on the job. As a result, the chemical company's employees would become some of the most contaminated nuclear workers in history. This documentary explores the legacy that St. Louis is still coping with, from workers who became ill - to the challenges of dealing with the fallout of creating some of the world's first nuclear waste.The story is not unique to St. Louis, as more than 300 facilities across America would become part of the race to build the bomb, and be forced to deal with many of the same issues. A detailed look into what some of the men and women went through inside these plants, and how decisions made in the past affect us all today. http://www.thesafesideofthefence.com(link is external)
Canada, 2014, Documentary, Director: Ernest Webb, Original Language: English, 10 min
An ancient legend becomes an allegory for the Cree Nation's fight against uranium development in James Bay, Quebec, Canada. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750007","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993%C2%A0" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559750007","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760000","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/108474993 (link is external)
Director Espen Rasmussen, Norway, 2013, 8 min, documentary, Danish & Norwegian, English subtitles
Greenland's vast natural resources, ranging from oil and gas to uranium, rare earth and iron ore, have remained largely inaccessible under thick layers of ice, making them too difficult and expensive to extract. But with a receding ice sheet and new transport routes opening through the Northwest Passage these prized materials have now placed Greenland at the threshold of a potential commodities boom that could see the territory transformed. On 25 October 2013 the Greenlandic parliament narrowly voted to lift a 25 year ban on the mining of uranium which it inherited from Denmark, its former colonial power. The short film ”To Dig or Not to Dig” tells the story about the small town of Narsaq in South Greenland, which is in the centre of the global battle for minerals. The Australian mining consortium Greenland Minerals and Energy is doing what they can to start digging for deposits of rare earth, used in mobile phones, aircraft engines, telescopes and other high tech devices, in the Kvanefjeld mountains close to the town. Espen Rasmussen visited Greenland to meet both sides of the debate. https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760002","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760002","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760003","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/78088219(link is external)
Too Precious to Mine (link is external)
USA, 2017, Director Justin Clifton, Documentary, English, 10 min, Trailer: https://vimeo.com/241576331","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/241576331" style="outline: none; color: rgb(145, 131, 90); transition: 0.5s; border: none;" target="_blank">https://vimeo.com/241576331","_id":"0000017d-23b0-dd26-adfd-e7f559760005","_type":"035d81d3-5be2-3ed2-bc8a-6da208e0d9e2"}">https://vimeo.com/241576331(link is external)
The Havasupai Tribe depends on the blue-green waters that emerge in the Grand Canyon for drinking water. But now, uranium mining on the canyon’s rims threatens the tribe’s existence and its way of life. A 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims around the Grand Canyon is at risk of being overturned by the Trump administration. The Grand Canyon is an irreplaceable natural treasure that draws over 5.5 million visitors to the park each year. Yet, irresponsibly operated uranium mines located on federal public land just miles from the North and South Rims threaten to permanently pollute the Grand Canyon landscape and the greater Colorado River. „The Grand Canyon is the last place on Earth we should mine uranium.“ https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/too-precious-mine (link is external)
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Festival SupporterCurrent Festival supporters, partners and co-organizers of the Uranium Film Festival in the American Southwest are the Seventh Generation Fund, the New Mexico Social Justice and Equity Institute and the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE). The Uranium Film Festival is only made possible with financial support from individual donors and sponsors. The festival welcomes any donation and partnership. Join us. Be our suppoert and donate to the festival.
http://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/donate-to-the-uranium-film-festival