American Southwest 2018
American Southwest 2018
American Southwest 2018
American Southwest 2018
American Southwest 2018

American Southwest 2018

The International Uranium Film Festival returns to the Diné Nation with additional screenings throughout Arizona & New Mexico.

The issue of nuclear power is not only an issue of the Diné / Navajo Nation, who suffered for decades because of uranium mining. All people should be informed about the risks of uranium, nuclear weapons and the whole nuclear fuel chain. For that the International Uranium Film Festival travelled in 2013 for the first time to the American Southwest and Window Rock. Now in an effort to keep people informed and aware, particularly during this critical time of escalating nuclear threats, the International Uranium Film Festival returns to the U.S. Southwest in 2018.  

It is through the courage of independent film makers that the horrid truth of the Nuclear Beast is exposed and denounced. This year’s International Uranium Film Festival will feature films addressing uranium-related topics including contamination in India and on Diné lands resulting from the disposal of nuclear waste and the mining of uranium, and the legacy of atomic bomb production and testing. Los Alamos, the birthplace of the Atomic Bomb maintains its culture of secrecy, a practice which began with the inception of the Manhattan project. The films we bring to the public help to break the bubble of secrecy which the US government and multi-billon dollar corporations continue to operate under, hiding the truth about harm the nuclear industry causes to our land, water, people, communities and all living beings.

We extend our most sincere gratitude to the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, the Anna and Max Levinson Foundation, McCune Foundation and the Western Mining Action Network for their support making this Festival possible. Additional Festival partners and sponsors include: the New Mexico Social Justice and Equity Institute; Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment; Beyond Nuclear; Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety; Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund; Gallup Solar; Interfaith Worker Justice New Mexico; New Mexico Environmental Law Center; New Mexico Health Equity Partnership; New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light; Nuclear Watch New Mexico; Southwest Research & Information Center; and Tewa Women United.

PROGRAM

INTERNATIONAL URANIUM FILM FESTIVAL IN WINDOW ROCK, NAVAJO NATION MUSEUM, NOVEMBER 29TH TO DECEMBER 1ST, 2018. Program download here.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 3 pm

Welcome to the Festival, Opening prayer, and guest speaker Vice President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation.

The Wolverine: The Fight of the James Bay Cree

Canada, 2014, Documentary, Director:  Ernest Webb, Original Language: English, 10 min - This poetic, short documentary film recounts the legend of Kuikuhâchâu (The Wolverine and the Skunk) as a metaphor to the state of Uranium mining in Cree Territory. It uses present-day documentary film footage to cover both the live action of the hearings and to illustrate life on the land through the eyes of one man, Jamie Moses. It also uses abstract visual imagery of drawings and stock footage to tell the story of the Wolverine and the Skunk to the audience. The film intends to both capture imagination and bring awareness to what is at stake environmentally in Eeyou Istchee.  https://vimeo.com/143877719

Tale of a Toxic Nation 

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

DII’GO TO BAAHAANE: FOUR STORIES  ABOUT WATER

USA, 2012, 37 minutes, Produced by Deborah Begel. Co-Directed by Deborah Begel and David Lindblom, Navajo with English subtitles - This documentary is a four part meditation on the Navajo people’s problems with contaminated drinking water. Nearly one out of three people in the Navajo Nation struggle with this issue. Four Stories About Water opens with a waterfall of people who reveal the scope of water contamination problems on Navajo lands, from the health problems that were likely caused by uranium tailings left uncovered to the view of water as “a spiritual element” to the fact that 30% of the Navajo people don’t have access to safe water. http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53797/Four...

Half Life: The Story of America’s Last Uranium Mill 

USA, 2016, Director: Justin Clifton, Documentary, English, 12 min - In Southeastern Utah 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.

Too Precious to Mine 

USA, 2017, Director Justin Clifton, Documentary, English, 10 min - 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.  Trailer: https://vimeo.com/241576331

Q & A and panel discussion about uranium mining on indigenous lands. Uranium Keep it in the Ground.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 5:30 pm

Shri Prakash presents his films about uranium mining and its legacy in India and USA

JADUGODA - THE BLACK MAGIC

India, 2009, Director Shri Prakash, English, Documentary, 10 min - This film, based on the 2007 study, Black Magic of Uranium at Jadugoda, conducted by the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD Patna chapter), explores the harsh realities of indigenous peoples living near the Jadugoda mine, mill and tailings dam. 

Nabikei (FOOTSTEP)                                  

India, 2017, Documentary, Director Shri Prakash, English, 60 min - The American Southwest - especially the sovereign Indigenous nations of Acoma, Laguna and the Diné or Navajo Nation - have 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.  Contaminated land, water, and air have left these poor communities helpless. And 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. 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 (Jharkhand).

Q & A with Filmmaker Shri Prakash 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 7 pm

Award winning documentary about the cattle farmers of Fukushima and their radioactive livestock and special Guest Hervé Courtois from France. Visiting his daughter in Iwaki in Fukushima in June 2011, just 3 months after the March 2011 nuclear disaster, Hervé Courtois became a Fukushima specialist, activist and blogger to tell the hidden truth of the ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima. „We must expose the true ugly nature of the nuclear industry“, says 60 year old Hervé Courtois.

Nuclear Cattle 

Japan, 2016, Director, Tamotsu Matsubara, Production Power-i Inc, Documentary, 98 min, Japanese with English subtitles - This is the story of innocent cattle farmers forced from the hills they’ve called home for decades due to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Not willing to go along with the  government’s plan to slaughter their livestock and livelihoods, the farmers decide to keep their cattle alive as a symbol of resistance in the fight to rid Japan of nuclear power. But the feeding cost is a huge burden. Stripped of their homes and livelihoods and fighting a losing battle against time, many farmers have reached a breaking point. Now, the „radioactive“ cows became a symbol of the fight against nuclear power. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/181168225

Q and A with Hervé Courtois. 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th,

10 am

Films about Nuclear Waste and the search for a final repository

Nuclear Waste Land? 

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. Film/Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gpt46ofCXs 

Journey To The Safest Place On Earth 

Switzerland, 2013, Director Edgar Hagen, 100 min, documentary, English - Lethal, highly radioactive nuclear waste from decades of nuclear power use will endure for centuries. Locating a final repository for the waste is one of the great challenges facing the world, and experts are searching for secure, geologically stable places around the world. Director Edgar Hagen examines the limitations and contradictions of this global quest. Nuclear power advocates and opponents face up to this responsibility and struggle for solutions. Dogmatic attitudes from both sides become unstable. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/75918238

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th,

3 pm 

Welcoming address with representatives of the Navajo Nation, filmmaker Kelly Whalen, Street artist Chip Thomas, Navajo artist Tina Garnanez and Radmilla Cody, GRAMMY Nominee, multiple Native American Music Awards winner.

Dignity at a Monumental Scale

USA, 2018, Director Kelly Whalen, Producer KQED Arts, 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

Yellow Fever: Uncovering the Navajo Uranium Legacy

Director Sophie Rousmaniere, Co-Producer Jay Minton, USA, 2013, 56 min, documentary, English - Yellow Fever follows young Navajo veteran, Tina Garnanez on her journey to investigate the history of the Navajo Uranium Boom, it's lasting impacts in her area and the potential new mining in her region. She begins as a curious family member and becomes an advocate, lobbyist, activist and vocal proponent for transparency and environmental justice. Tina travels throughout the West to learn about uranium mining and nuclear development. She examines the pros, the cons and the hot debate over Nuclear power, which forces her to consider her own opinions on the subject of energy.  www.yellowfeverfilm.com

Q & A with Kelly Whalen, Chip Thomas and Tina Garnanez and panel discussion about uranium mining legacy on Navajo lands.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th,

5 pm

Short films about the question of uranium mining in Greenland with artist and filmmaker Lise Autogena from Denmark 

To Dig Or Not To Dig: The Battle For Greenland 

Director Espen Rasmussen, Norway, 2013, 8 min, documentary, Danish & Norwegian, English subtitles - 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.  ”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. Espen Rasmussen visited Greenland to meet both sides of the debate.  https://vimeo.com/78088219 

KUANNERSUIT / KVANEFJELD

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 indigenous community of Narsaq in southern Greenland. Narsaq is located next to the pristine Kvanefjeld mountain - site of one of the largest sources of uranium. Greenland is a former colony of Denmark, which is now recognized 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 globalized world.  https://vimeo.com/214697146

Q & A with Lise Autogena and discussion about the uranium mining question in Greenland. 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th,

6:30 pm

Film about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository with filmmaker Daria Bachmann 

THE REPOSITORY 

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. https://www.therepositorymovie.com

Q & A with Daria Bachmann and discussion about the question of nuclear waste repositories.

 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 10 am

Welcoming Address with Indigenous Representatives.

Crying Earth Rise Up 

USA, 2014, Documentary. Director:  Suree Towfighnia | Producer:  Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann. Documentary, English, 57 min - 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. https://www.cryingearthriseup.com

The Return of Navajo Boy - update!

USA 2000/2011, 57 min and 15 min Epilogue / Documentary, Director: Jeff Spitz, Produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain - The documentary, epilogue and now 15 webisodes have leveraged several remarkable impacts:  Bernie Cly, one of the Navajo family featured, has been awarded $100,000 in compensation from the US government; the EPA demolished a  dangerous house made out of uranium which was featured in the film and completed its $8 million dollar clean up of the abandoned uranium mine located in the backyard of the Navajo family featured in the documentary.  The most recent webisode in April 2014, informs viewers that the Navajo tribe won the largest environmental settlement in American history, $1 billion payout from Kerr-McGee, the corporate contaminator exposed by the documentary.  www.navajoboy.com/webisodes

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st,

2 pm

Filmmaker Deidra Peaches and Taylor Dunne & Eric Stewart presenting their films.

Doodá Leetso - The Legacy of Navajo Nation Uranium Mining

USA, 2015, Director Deidra Peaches, Directed/Edited: Paper Rocket Productions, Producers: Tolani Lake Enterprise, Funders: Indigenous Environmental Network, Western Mining Action Network, Colorado Plateau Foundation, Christensen Fund, Special Thanks: Chris Shuey, Johnney Lewis, Tommy Rock, Edith Hood, Larry King, Bertha Nez, Rolanda Tohannie, Music by BC Campbell, 15 min - The abundance of toxic exposure due to abandoned Uranium mines; left by defunct corporations, continue to endanger the Diné People.

Off Country (in-progress excerpt) 

USA, 2018, Directors Taylor Dunne and Eric Stewart, 12 min, English - Radiation is invisible and Atomic weaponry was born in secret.  This unseen industry has defined the American Southwest through testing, manufacturing, and the storage of nuclear armament.  Off, Country examines, through first person accounts and oral histories, the nuclear landscape of the American Southwest.  The fallout and shock-waves of this history can still be felt today and will continue to be present in the landscape for the next 25,000 years. http://taylordunne.com/off-country

Q&A with Deidra Peaches and Taylor Dunne & Eric Stewart

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st,

3 pm

Brittany Prater presents her film about the secret history and radioactive legacy of the Manhattan project. 

URANIUM DERBY 

US, 2017, Director Brittany Prater, documentary, English, 83 min - A young woman’s investigation into her hometown’s secret involvement in the Manhattan Project triggers a chain reaction of encounters through which it becomes clear that the topic of nuclear waste has been more  successfully buried than the waste itself. Uranium Derby portrays the manner in which Superfund site cleanup is often mishandled in the U.S., and informs the viewer about how toxic waste can spread, and why waste-site cleanup is often prolonged or avoided altogether. Because private companies contracted to clean up waste sites tend to hold considerable political leverage, they are able to devise strategies that greatly extend cleanup schedules, thus ensuring the longest possible inflow of government funds.  „A filmmaker discovers her hometown was secretly involved in the Manhattan Project. Her investigation into this history triggers a chain reaction of encounters through which it becomes clear that the topic of nuclear waste has been more successfully buried than the waste itself.“ http://uraniumderby.com/

Q&A with Brittany Prater

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st,

5:30 pm     

1 Hour of powerful documentaries about the Legacy of Atomic Bomb Tests in the South Pacific & Australia

Anointed 

Marshall Islands, 2018, Directors Dan Lin & Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, poem video, 6 min - 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 

BOBBY BROWN HOMELANDS - LIVING WITH THE LEGACY OF BRITISH NUCLEAR TESTING

Australia, 2015, Produced and Directed by Kim Mavromatis and Quenten Agius, MAV Media in Association with NITV (National Indigenous TV Australia). Documentary, 5 min  - In the 1950’s and 1960’s the Australian government authorized 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. https://vimeo.com/119231410 

Greetings from Mururoa

France, 2016, Director Larbi Benchiha, production: Aligal production and France Télévisions, documentary, English, 52 min - Film about France's atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific at the Mururoa atoll. The filmmaker allows the surviving atomic tests  veterans - which unknowingly irradiated themselves and their families - to speak up.  "My biggest regret is to have contaminated my daughters, and can be, my grandchildren“, says Florence Bourel. She had stayed several times at the atomic bases of Moruroa. Her daughter Marion, 22 years, it suffers from several radiation-induced diseases and cancer. Like her mother, she is also afraid of the future: "... and if I have children, will they be healthy?“ Florence was proud to work for the good of France. There, in the blue lagoon where the bombs exploded, she was diving and water skiing. "The hierarchy has never mentioned any risks. They only said we should not eat fish from the lagoon and wipe with a sarong and not a towel.“ Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o42VnV8qYEQ

Q & A with Paul Griego,  a Marshall Islands Atomic Cleanup participant.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st,

7 pm    

Award Ceremony & Closing Prayer

Festival Contacts
Norbert G. Suchanek
General Director 
International Uranium Film Festival
info@uraniumfilmfestival.org
www.uraniumfilmfestival.org
 
Anna Marie Rondon
Executive Director 
New Mexico Social Justice and Equity Institute
505-906-2671 (c)
nmsjei@gmail.com
 
Susan Gordon
Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment
sgordon@swuraniumimpacts.org
505-577-8438
www.swuraniumimpacts.org
 
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