It comes to something when a film which is made about the waters surrounding the United Kingdom is shown on German television, French television, but not on English television.
What have they got to hide in this country... and where have they hidden it?
The film, entitled "Radioactive waste: dumped and forgotten" is being shown at the International Uranium Film Festival in Berlin tonight. It was directed by Thomas Reutter and Manfred Ladwig and is an Arte, SWR, German, production. It looks at our legacy of nuclear waste dumped in the sea, and the effects on the health of people living on the local coasts and the practice of pumping nuclear waste through pipes out to sea.
This is a powerful documentary and it can, fortunately, still be seen on YouTube. The link is to the English version and I cannot recommend it too highly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX_lzoYl9AU
I hope it will continue on tour with the Uranium Film Festival. These are facts which should be known, not buried. This is history which is not just in the past; we are living it today and so, especially, are the children.
Showing posts with label International Uranium Film Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Uranium Film Festival. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Monday, 13 July 2015
International Uranium Film Festival 16th and 17th July in Rio de Janeiro. Clips online.
Nearly 50 years ago, two American planes collided over Palomares, Almeria - Spain causing four H bombs to fall to earth. Two of them exploded their conventional charge and due to the strong wind radioactive material was scattered all over the region. The material was apparently several kilograms of plutonium.
A film called "Broken Arrow. Nuclear Accident in Palomares" is being shown at The International Uranium Festival, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro on 16th and 17th July.
"Broken arrow" is a US military term used for an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons, warheads, or components, but which does not create the risk of nuclear war, according to Wiki. Well that's good to know!
The festival is showing some brilliant short animations and clips which can be seen online..."After The Day After" by Nathan Metz is one.. I must admit, I really liked "Beloved Sun" about a firefly who falls in love with the sun...but the variety and artistry of the films amazes me.
The sheer nonsense of safety of nuclear power plants for surrounding populations is highlighted in "The Plan?" showing a down to earth series of interviews with people living within 10 miles of Indian Point, the ageing nuclear power plant which sits 35 miles north of New York City. What are they told to do in an emergency? Go to the special bus stop and wait for the bus..I'm not joking.
A film called "Broken Arrow. Nuclear Accident in Palomares" is being shown at The International Uranium Festival, which takes place in Rio de Janeiro on 16th and 17th July.
"Broken arrow" is a US military term used for an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons, warheads, or components, but which does not create the risk of nuclear war, according to Wiki. Well that's good to know!
The festival is showing some brilliant short animations and clips which can be seen online..."After The Day After" by Nathan Metz is one.. I must admit, I really liked "Beloved Sun" about a firefly who falls in love with the sun...but the variety and artistry of the films amazes me.
The sheer nonsense of safety of nuclear power plants for surrounding populations is highlighted in "The Plan?" showing a down to earth series of interviews with people living within 10 miles of Indian Point, the ageing nuclear power plant which sits 35 miles north of New York City. What are they told to do in an emergency? Go to the special bus stop and wait for the bus..I'm not joking.
Sunday, 15 June 2014
You have to be joking..... You're not!
Thanks to an article by Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South from 1992-2010, and published recently in the Morning Star, I discovered that EDF proposes to have company volunteers who will... 'go out into the community and schools to tell the story.'
Yes, on the streets... Hundreds of them, jogging. "Their stated objective will be to 'normalise nuclear to consumers.' " He also, in the same article, explains briefly how the nuclear power industry uses Public Relations in relation to MPs. and it's a bit of an eye opener.
Frankly, the idea of hundreds of EDF volunteers jogging round the streets trying to normalise nuclear, strikes me as quite funny. The company volunteers going into schools, does not.
A quick Google search for the EDF website, revealed that they have been offering the "Pod", a free programme for greener schools,... to our educational establishments and according to the Met Office figures, posted I guess some time ago, this has been ongoing since 2008 and had more than 14,300 schools involved and over 3.7 million school children involved. If you are wondering what the Met Office has to do with EDF, well, the web page I found had it neatly subtitled, "Education >> Collaboration >> Working with EDF Energy."
Don't get me wrong, some of the things that they do are really good and they are "collaborating" with some excellent organisations. It reminds me of Monsanto's and Bayer's funding towards "National Pollinator Week" in the USA from June 16th to 22nd. The Organic Consumers Association would appreciate it if you would share their article http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30250.cfm
It also reminds me, perhaps unfairly, but then that's the way my memory works, of some research that the NIS (Nuclear Information Service) and Medact did over a two year period and made public in February. They found that over fifty British universities, that's over a third of British universities, receive funding from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, AWE. Although much of the work supported by AWE is "Blue sky" research and not aimed at any special application, some of it is considered to have"dual use" potential. This is the link: http://nuclearinfo.org/article/awe-aldermaston/atoms-peace-investigation-int-links-between-uk-universities-and-atomic
In a following short blog post, which I found very helpful, they examined AWE's own comments, which led them to this conclusion, "AWE aren't funding research in universities for philanthropic purposes: they're doing it because they think the results will be of use to Britain's nuclear weapons programme."
This means, the way I see it, that even if you think you are going to be doing research purely for the good of humanity, there could be a horrible twist to it. You can find out which universities are involved from the article and I shall be blogging about this again later!
Meanwhile back at EDF and their company volunteers, who, I gather, will be taking "Talk Service " into schools:
"The concept is simple. Use the best advocates – our people – to talk to colleges, schools and other organisations in the communities where we work. The aim is to create open and honest dialogue and to help people understand more about the industry."
Really? Well, if that's the case, perhaps it would be only fair, and in accordance with a balanced education, if the schools invited someone from CND or Greenpeace, or the local groups campaigning against new nuclear power plants or nuclear waste, to come along and give their views at the same time. Not, by the way, a troll in anti-nuclear clothing, but a genuine, clear thinking, moral activist.
Are children in Britain today taught to think for themselves, or is it "Don't rock the boat, we have to keep the sponsors happy." ?
Happily, across the Irish Sea, which is apparently the most radioactively polluted in the world, there are school students who seem to be very aware of the problems. I don't think that EDF would cut any ice with the then 14 to 17 year olds who made "Nuclear Winter" an animated film which was given a special recognition award at the recent International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro.
"A ship dumps its cargo of nuclear waste in the Artic, stirring something strange up from the depths".
Wow! http://www.pureproject.ie/what-we-do/pure-animation-movies/ (Scroll down a few films to find it... but worth the trip.)
Yes, on the streets... Hundreds of them, jogging. "Their stated objective will be to 'normalise nuclear to consumers.' " He also, in the same article, explains briefly how the nuclear power industry uses Public Relations in relation to MPs. and it's a bit of an eye opener.
Frankly, the idea of hundreds of EDF volunteers jogging round the streets trying to normalise nuclear, strikes me as quite funny. The company volunteers going into schools, does not.
A quick Google search for the EDF website, revealed that they have been offering the "Pod", a free programme for greener schools,... to our educational establishments and according to the Met Office figures, posted I guess some time ago, this has been ongoing since 2008 and had more than 14,300 schools involved and over 3.7 million school children involved. If you are wondering what the Met Office has to do with EDF, well, the web page I found had it neatly subtitled, "Education >> Collaboration >> Working with EDF Energy."
Don't get me wrong, some of the things that they do are really good and they are "collaborating" with some excellent organisations. It reminds me of Monsanto's and Bayer's funding towards "National Pollinator Week" in the USA from June 16th to 22nd. The Organic Consumers Association would appreciate it if you would share their article http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30250.cfm
It also reminds me, perhaps unfairly, but then that's the way my memory works, of some research that the NIS (Nuclear Information Service) and Medact did over a two year period and made public in February. They found that over fifty British universities, that's over a third of British universities, receive funding from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, AWE. Although much of the work supported by AWE is "Blue sky" research and not aimed at any special application, some of it is considered to have"dual use" potential. This is the link: http://nuclearinfo.org/article/awe-aldermaston/atoms-peace-investigation-int-links-between-uk-universities-and-atomic
In a following short blog post, which I found very helpful, they examined AWE's own comments, which led them to this conclusion, "AWE aren't funding research in universities for philanthropic purposes: they're doing it because they think the results will be of use to Britain's nuclear weapons programme."
This means, the way I see it, that even if you think you are going to be doing research purely for the good of humanity, there could be a horrible twist to it. You can find out which universities are involved from the article and I shall be blogging about this again later!
Meanwhile back at EDF and their company volunteers, who, I gather, will be taking "Talk Service " into schools:
"The concept is simple. Use the best advocates – our people – to talk to colleges, schools and other organisations in the communities where we work. The aim is to create open and honest dialogue and to help people understand more about the industry."
Really? Well, if that's the case, perhaps it would be only fair, and in accordance with a balanced education, if the schools invited someone from CND or Greenpeace, or the local groups campaigning against new nuclear power plants or nuclear waste, to come along and give their views at the same time. Not, by the way, a troll in anti-nuclear clothing, but a genuine, clear thinking, moral activist.
Are children in Britain today taught to think for themselves, or is it "Don't rock the boat, we have to keep the sponsors happy." ?
Happily, across the Irish Sea, which is apparently the most radioactively polluted in the world, there are school students who seem to be very aware of the problems. I don't think that EDF would cut any ice with the then 14 to 17 year olds who made "Nuclear Winter" an animated film which was given a special recognition award at the recent International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro.
"A ship dumps its cargo of nuclear waste in the Artic, stirring something strange up from the depths".
Wow! http://www.pureproject.ie/what-we-do/pure-animation-movies/ (Scroll down a few films to find it... but worth the trip.)
Friday, 30 May 2014
Rio's International Uranium Film Festival 2014 announces winners.
Thirteen atomic documentaries and movies from eleven countries were awarded five Yellow Oscars and eight Special Recognitions at a ceremony held in the Modern Art Museum Cinematique. What an array of films to choose from, though; more than sixty movies, documentaries and animations from over twenty countries! This is the link to the winners: http://www.scribd.com/doc/226956062/Yellow-Oscar-Winners-2014
The good news, for me, is that although the festival is over, the films are archived and you can find trailers and whole films under 'past IUFF's' and look at them again, at the website of the International Uranium Film Festival. The festival also travels to different countries around the world. I'd love to write about them all tonight, but at least I can reference them and write about them in future posts. It's one thing saying " Do you remember that bit in the film where...." and another to be able to say "Here's the link to..." and let people who may never have seen it, understand what is so important about it.
So "Thank you" to the directors of the film festival and their team and "Thank you" again to all the people who made the films.
A complete "First" for me was the use of sand animation in a beautiful tribute to the children of Chornobyl by Kseniya Simonova, called "Eternal Tears" http://simonova.tv/en/blog/article/in-rio
As a child she grew up in a seaside resort in the south of Ukraine on the Black sea, where children came from Chornobyl after the accident....but let her tell you about it, herself, in this moving little film.
What struck me as especially poignant, although she didn't mention it, was that the the clouds of radio-active contamination from the accident would probably have blown over the very place she was living as they crossed the Black Sea on their way to Turkey and other European countries.
The good news, for me, is that although the festival is over, the films are archived and you can find trailers and whole films under 'past IUFF's' and look at them again, at the website of the International Uranium Film Festival. The festival also travels to different countries around the world. I'd love to write about them all tonight, but at least I can reference them and write about them in future posts. It's one thing saying " Do you remember that bit in the film where...." and another to be able to say "Here's the link to..." and let people who may never have seen it, understand what is so important about it.
So "Thank you" to the directors of the film festival and their team and "Thank you" again to all the people who made the films.
A complete "First" for me was the use of sand animation in a beautiful tribute to the children of Chornobyl by Kseniya Simonova, called "Eternal Tears" http://simonova.tv/en/blog/article/in-rio
As a child she grew up in a seaside resort in the south of Ukraine on the Black sea, where children came from Chornobyl after the accident....but let her tell you about it, herself, in this moving little film.
What struck me as especially poignant, although she didn't mention it, was that the the clouds of radio-active contamination from the accident would probably have blown over the very place she was living as they crossed the Black Sea on their way to Turkey and other European countries.
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Common knowledge
On May 15th, in Rio de Janeiro hundreds of people took part in a march against the alleged corruption surrounding the building and re-vamping of the world cup football stadiums and against their huge cost, in a country where the money could have been spent on services to the people. There were protests in other cities as well.
I like the fact that the Brazilian people, who are famous as a nation of football lovers, have the courage and insight to stand up for what is really important.
Not far away, in the same city, in the Modern Art Museum, Flamengo Park, more uncomfortable truths were being aired on the second day of the International Uranium Film Festival.
This festival is unique, gathering together films from around the world by filmmakers who have the courage to make films about the nuclear industry process from uranium mining, to atomic bombs and nuclear waste. These films are often made with risk to the film makers themselves. They can show the real picture of what people are suffering .. they tell the truth about wind-born radioactive particles and the contaminated food chain... Sometimes the films are short animations and darkly humorous; sometimes they are fictional; sometimes, documentary.
Somewhere, they take the facts from being common knowledge to a small community of people to becoming open knowledge in the global community. When you know that the water you have to give your children to drink is contaminated, you probably want the rest of the world to know why.
I strongly recommend reading the descriptions of the films, the directors' statements and watching some of the films or the trailers, which there are links to. The progamme and notes made compulsive reading for me and left me humbler and wiser. This is the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/222613160/4th-Rio-de-Janeiro-Uranium-Film-Festival-2014-Program-English
or go directly to the festival's brilliant website http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/ and follow their direct link to the programme.
I like the fact that the Brazilian people, who are famous as a nation of football lovers, have the courage and insight to stand up for what is really important.
Not far away, in the same city, in the Modern Art Museum, Flamengo Park, more uncomfortable truths were being aired on the second day of the International Uranium Film Festival.
This festival is unique, gathering together films from around the world by filmmakers who have the courage to make films about the nuclear industry process from uranium mining, to atomic bombs and nuclear waste. These films are often made with risk to the film makers themselves. They can show the real picture of what people are suffering .. they tell the truth about wind-born radioactive particles and the contaminated food chain... Sometimes the films are short animations and darkly humorous; sometimes they are fictional; sometimes, documentary.
Somewhere, they take the facts from being common knowledge to a small community of people to becoming open knowledge in the global community. When you know that the water you have to give your children to drink is contaminated, you probably want the rest of the world to know why.
I strongly recommend reading the descriptions of the films, the directors' statements and watching some of the films or the trailers, which there are links to. The progamme and notes made compulsive reading for me and left me humbler and wiser. This is the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/222613160/4th-Rio-de-Janeiro-Uranium-Film-Festival-2014-Program-English
or go directly to the festival's brilliant website http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/ and follow their direct link to the programme.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Brilliant short trailer for International Uranium Film Festival - Worth going viral.
This is a link to the trailer for the International Uranium Film Festival. I think it is absolutely brilliant! (It's very short). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUTjJ_drmp0
The festival is held in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks before the FIFA world cup football.
Also promoted on Nuclear-News
The festival is held in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks before the FIFA world cup football.
Also promoted on Nuclear-News
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Red sand from the Sahara
A few weeks ago a mixture of fine red sand and dust blew into Britain from the Sahara. It travelled thousands of miles before it landed and, within a few days, there were people complaining of grit in their eyes and warnings were put out for anyone with respiratory difficulties. Schools in affected areas were advised to keep children indoors during lunch and playtime.
Apparently, once lifted from the ground by strong winds, clouds of dust can reach very high altitudes and be transported worldwide, covering thousands of miles. The U.K. met office gave an elegant description and put up a short video of the route the dust took..
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/sahara-dust
I read that dust from the Sahara has been blown as far as Florida, five thousands miles away.
As usual, this set me thinking.
We know that the sand was there, because we could see it, feel it, cough it, sneeze it. It was definitely there. We also know that one of the ways radioactive particles can travel is in dust blown into the air and carried in the same way as the sand. We can't see them and we may not know that they are doing us any harm until years later, but there they are, hitching a lift in a dust storm and no passport control can keep them out.
This week Mochizuki posted in Fukushima Diary that 10,000,000 Bq of Cesium-134/137 are emitted from 4 crippled reactors every single hour
http://fukushima-diary.com/2014/04/fukushima-prefectural-gov-shrank-fallout-survey-still-10-million-bq-of-cs-134137-emitted-from-fukushima-every-hour/
I don't think that the radioactivity is just going to stay around Fukushima. Meanwhile, you can understand why some parents who actually live in the area are unhappy about letting their children play outside.
How do you find out about what's really happening to people affected by the nuclear power chain? One way is from films. From May 14th to May25th, the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio De Janeiro is showing films chosen from all those submitted, at the Modern Art Museum.
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/
It's the place to go, but if like me, you can't get there, the festival has a great website and, from past experience, once the films go up, you can learn a lot about them. They also have a good archive of films, and one of them is Abita a short animated film about children who can't play outside because of the radioactive contamination. It's about their dreams and realities and you can watch it at this link.:
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/arquives/films/462-en/past-iuffs/iuff-2013/usa-2014/new-york-city/sunday-feb-16/at-1-30pm/1121-abita-children-from-fukushimaI
Abita is a beautifully told story, full of poetry and imagery. I just wish it hadn't had to be made.
Apparently, once lifted from the ground by strong winds, clouds of dust can reach very high altitudes and be transported worldwide, covering thousands of miles. The U.K. met office gave an elegant description and put up a short video of the route the dust took..
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/sahara-dust
I read that dust from the Sahara has been blown as far as Florida, five thousands miles away.
As usual, this set me thinking.
We know that the sand was there, because we could see it, feel it, cough it, sneeze it. It was definitely there. We also know that one of the ways radioactive particles can travel is in dust blown into the air and carried in the same way as the sand. We can't see them and we may not know that they are doing us any harm until years later, but there they are, hitching a lift in a dust storm and no passport control can keep them out.
This week Mochizuki posted in Fukushima Diary that 10,000,000 Bq of Cesium-134/137 are emitted from 4 crippled reactors every single hour
http://fukushima-diary.com/2014/04/fukushima-prefectural-gov-shrank-fallout-survey-still-10-million-bq-of-cs-134137-emitted-from-fukushima-every-hour/
I don't think that the radioactivity is just going to stay around Fukushima. Meanwhile, you can understand why some parents who actually live in the area are unhappy about letting their children play outside.
How do you find out about what's really happening to people affected by the nuclear power chain? One way is from films. From May 14th to May25th, the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio De Janeiro is showing films chosen from all those submitted, at the Modern Art Museum.
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/
It's the place to go, but if like me, you can't get there, the festival has a great website and, from past experience, once the films go up, you can learn a lot about them. They also have a good archive of films, and one of them is Abita a short animated film about children who can't play outside because of the radioactive contamination. It's about their dreams and realities and you can watch it at this link.:
http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/arquives/films/462-en/past-iuffs/iuff-2013/usa-2014/new-york-city/sunday-feb-16/at-1-30pm/1121-abita-children-from-fukushimaI
Abita is a beautifully told story, full of poetry and imagery. I just wish it hadn't had to be made.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
If you want people to learn from history, it helps if you let the people living throught it, write it.
"What's the point of learning about history?" I remember kids asking, and the stock answer always came back "You can learn from it," or even "You can learn from the mistakes people made and not repeat them."
Well, that's fine, if people at the time are allowed to record history and later generations are allowed access to it. A shining example of learning from history is the collection of evidence from the accident at Chornobyl, papers from people who had the moral integrity and courage to collect and publish.
The publication is Chernobyl, Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, and it has given the rest of the world a far better insight into what happens and goes on happening after a nuclear accident.
When I think of the nations involved, it is the honesty and bravery of these individuals that comes into my mind. It isn't a criticism of what has happened; that is history.
We seem to be going through yet another period of governments thinking that enforced censorship is a good thing. I find it strange that folk who purport to be elected by "the people" then seem to find it their duty to keep the truth from the very people who put them there to represent them.
There is a piece in nuclear-news by Ralf Nader, published in Common Dreams, which I found enlightening.
http://nuclear-news.net/2014/01/25/ralph-nader-warns-on-nuclear-power-and-civil-liberties/#more-62409
The United Kingdom, which I come from, doesn't exactly have an exemplary history of not putting the public in its own country, or overseas, at risk. Anyone who has ever watched "Silent Storm" must be aware of this.... and this is just one episode in our nuclear history that we know about.
In the USA, a rare film showing is about to happen. Film goers in Washington DC and New York City will be able to watch Nuclear Savage:The Islands of Project 4.1. The film director, Adam Horowitz will be at the panel discussion in Washington.. but you must register to see this film at the Goethe-Institut.
The film is one of many potent stories being brought to the USA by the International Uranium Film Festival, and I wonder how many U.S. citizens know about the testing of the nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, I mean, really know about the testing of nuclear weapons in these islands. The organisers of the festival have supplied some background reading for this film and even if you aren't in Washington DC or New York City, this is, to my mind, worth reading. You may then understand why you might not have seen it on your television screen.
The link is http://www.4thmedia.org/2014/01/11/media-coverup-of-impacts-of-u-s-nuclear-weapons-testing-on-native-people-in-the-pacific/
To find out more about dates and locations, go to the International Uranium Film Festival website and hover over the traveling festival tab to show the details. http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/index.php/en/
or go direct to the Goethe-Institut, Washington or the Pavilion Theater, New York, websites.
Well, that's fine, if people at the time are allowed to record history and later generations are allowed access to it. A shining example of learning from history is the collection of evidence from the accident at Chornobyl, papers from people who had the moral integrity and courage to collect and publish.
The publication is Chernobyl, Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, and it has given the rest of the world a far better insight into what happens and goes on happening after a nuclear accident.
When I think of the nations involved, it is the honesty and bravery of these individuals that comes into my mind. It isn't a criticism of what has happened; that is history.
We seem to be going through yet another period of governments thinking that enforced censorship is a good thing. I find it strange that folk who purport to be elected by "the people" then seem to find it their duty to keep the truth from the very people who put them there to represent them.
There is a piece in nuclear-news by Ralf Nader, published in Common Dreams, which I found enlightening.
http://nuclear-news.net/2014/01/25/ralph-nader-warns-on-nuclear-power-and-civil-liberties/#more-62409
The United Kingdom, which I come from, doesn't exactly have an exemplary history of not putting the public in its own country, or overseas, at risk. Anyone who has ever watched "Silent Storm" must be aware of this.... and this is just one episode in our nuclear history that we know about.
In the USA, a rare film showing is about to happen. Film goers in Washington DC and New York City will be able to watch Nuclear Savage:The Islands of Project 4.1. The film director, Adam Horowitz will be at the panel discussion in Washington.. but you must register to see this film at the Goethe-Institut.
The film is one of many potent stories being brought to the USA by the International Uranium Film Festival, and I wonder how many U.S. citizens know about the testing of the nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, I mean, really know about the testing of nuclear weapons in these islands. The organisers of the festival have supplied some background reading for this film and even if you aren't in Washington DC or New York City, this is, to my mind, worth reading. You may then understand why you might not have seen it on your television screen.
The link is http://www.4thmedia.org/2014/01/11/media-coverup-of-impacts-of-u-s-nuclear-weapons-testing-on-native-people-in-the-pacific/
To find out more about dates and locations, go to the International Uranium Film Festival website and hover over the traveling festival tab to show the details. http://www.uraniumfilmfestival.org/index.php/en/
or go direct to the Goethe-Institut, Washington or the Pavilion Theater, New York, websites.
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