Downwind Documentary

1 year ago
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Downwind Documentary
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928 full-scale nuclear weapons tests on American soil." That sentence on its own is astonishing.
When we embarked on this journey of discovery, we wanted to understand exactly who was impacted by the detonations at the Nevada Test Site and why, since winds dispersed radioactive fallout from atmospheric blasts (mushroom clouds) and underground testing (venting) in a seemingly unpredictable manner.
We had read in now-declassified documents that the United States government referred to Downwinders as a "low use segment of the population." We were also made aware that the location of the Test Site rests on sacred Western Shoshone land, by treaty. But from 1951-1992, the government restricted the area and conducted large-scale atomic weapons tests that obliterated the environment and exposed people and livestock to deadly fallout. And people are still getting sick to this day.
Using a lens metaphor, we initially focused on St. George, Utah, 135 miles west of the Test Site and a city that has experienced tremendously high leukemia and cancer rates. St. George was also the location for a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including the Howard Hughes epic The Conqueror (1956), where half the cast and crew reportedly died of cancer, including John Wayne, who we viewed as a metaphor for Iconic America: brazen, brash -- vulnerable.
As we delved deeper into the topic, zooming out, we discovered that fallout from worldwide nuclear weapons testing was distributed globally -- and also haphazardly.
Despite a moratorium on testing, the Nevada Test Site remains operational and off-limits with the possibility that testing could resume any day.
Our film intends to expose a tragic and largely forgotten chapter of United States history and the ongoing health consequences for Americans, addressing the current state of Downwinders, the hopeful expansion of a government compensation program called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) -- and the continued tenacity of heroic activists who won't be stopped in their pursuit of government accountability and humanitarian justice.
We are all Downwinders.

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