About the Founders

Telling the secrets of the nuclear story

 
The founders and directors of the International Uranium Film Festival are Márcia Gomes de Oliveira and Norbert G. Suchanek. Márcia was born in Rio de Janeiro and studied social science. Her first scientific work was with indigenous peoples from the Amazon and the state of Rio de Janeiro. Today she teaches sociology at the FAETEC public technical school for film, TV and communication.

Norbert is an environmental and human rights journalist and award winning documentary filmmaker. He was born 1963  in Bavaria. In the 1980s and 1990s, at the beginning of his career he researched in conflict regions like Northern Ireland, Palestine and PNG/West-Papua. Later he moved his focus on Brazil and its indigenous peoples. Since 2006 he is based as correspondent in Rio de Janeiro. In 2010 he created together with Márcia the International Uranium Film Festival.

At that time the Chernobyl nuclear accident was almost forgotten. And the Government of Brazil started to build the third nuclear power plant and a nuclear submarine in the state of Rio. In addition the Government planned to increase uranium mining. And very few people in Brazil knew that Uranium is the radioactive fuel of nuclear power plants and atomic bombs.

„We wanted to do something about this ignorance. Everyone should know about nuclear dangers. And the best way to spread that knowledge is through movies“, says Márcia. „So we founded the International Uranium Film Festival, the in the world first film festival about the whole nuclear fuel chain and radioactive risks.“ And then 11 March 2011 - two months before the festival’s first edition - the Fukushima nuclear accident happend March 2011. One more reason for the Uranium Film Festival to become a global event. 

Since 2016, when the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) was held for the first time in Hollywood, it is also known as The Atomic Age Cinema Fest.

Photo: Norbert G. Suchanek and Marcia Gomes de Oliveira at the Uranium Film Festival in Canada in 2015. Read more about the festival's history here!  Beyond nuclear: International Uranium Film Festival: An unlikely idea becomes a big success
 

 
 
Norbert G. Suchanek
International Uranium Film Festival 
General Director and Co-Founder
Email: norbert.suchanek@  uraniumfilmfestival.org
 
Márcia Gomes de Oliveira
International Uranium Film Festival
Rio de Janeiro
Executive Director and Co-Founder
Email: uraniofestival@  gmail.com
 
Ambassador of the International 
Uranium Film Festival to the USA
Los Angeles