Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise | |
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Directed by | Mark Cousins |
Produced by |
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Music by | Mogwai |
Release date |
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Running time | 70 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise is a documentary film about nuclear history directed by Mark Cousins and Produced by Heather Croall, Mark Atkin and John Archer. It uses only archive footage to explore life and death in the atomic age. The band Mogwai created the original soundtrack. The film, with a live performance by Mogwai, closed the Edinburgh International Festival in 2016. It was then shown on BBC Storyville to mark 70 years since the bombing of Hiroshima. [1] The soundtrack was subsequently reworked by Mogwai into a studio album, Atomic.
Mark Cousins' montage explores the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chernobyl disaster, Fukushima disaster, and the Three Mile Island accident. There are also protests: the Aldermaston marches and Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. The Cold War also features. [2]
The subject matter was particularly relevant to Scotland following the independence referendum, which highlighted the issue of nuclear weapons at Faslane as part of the UK's Trident nuclear programme. [3]
Footage used in the film also shows the benefits of atomic science, such as the X-ray and MRI scans.
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has been the city's mayor since April 2011. The Hiroshima metropolitan area is the second largest urban area in the Chugoku Region of Japan, following the Okayama metropolitan area.
The Atomic Cafe is a 1982 American documentary film directed by Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty. It is a compilation of clips from newsreels, military training films, and other footage produced in the United States early in the Cold War on the subject of nuclear warfare. Without any narration, the footage is edited and presented in a manner to demonstrate how misinformation and propaganda was used by the U.S. government and popular culture to ease fears about nuclear weapons among the American public.
The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon, The Gadget at the Trinity test in New Mexico on 16 July 1945 during World War II. Although nuclear chain reactions had been hypothesized in 1933 and the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction had taken place in December 1942, the Trinity test and the ensuing bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II represented the first large-scale use of nuclear technology and ushered in profound changes in sociopolitical thinking and the course of technological development.
Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is a mostly abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth atomgrad to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in the adjacent abandoned Chernobyl. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.
Hibakusha is a word of Japanese origin generally designating the people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II.
Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchison, and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.
Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese-Canadian war drama film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. The three-hour film was made for television and had no theatrical release.
Atomic tourism or nuclear tourism is a form of tourism in which visitors witness nuclear tests or learn about the Atomic Age by traveling to significant sites in atomic history such as nuclear test reactors, museums with nuclear weapon artifacts, delivery vehicles, sites where atomic weapons were detonated, and nuclear power plants.
This is a list of cultural products made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It includes literature, film, music and other art forms.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was a Japanese marine engineer who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during World War II. Although at least 160 people are known to have been affected by both bombings, he is the only person to have been officially recognized by the government of Japan as surviving both explosions.
Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his best-known works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
The Neutron Trail is an open cultural dialogue into our shared nuclear legacy intended to raise awareness and stimulate strategic thinking around nuclear power and nuclear disarmament. Neutron Trail deals with paradoxical human dilemmas, such as the world's need for large outputs of energy amid ongoing and often charged discussions regarding sustainability, and pervasive public fears surrounding nuclear energy. Through visiting the people and places most impacted by society's nuclear legacy, transmedia projects, public lectures and workshops, the Neutron Trail works to engage people from all walks of life in an ongoing exploration and evaluation of existing perceptions — true and untrue — about nuclear energy and weapons.
Pandora's Promise is a 2013 documentary film about the nuclear power debate, directed by Robert Stone. Its central argument is that nuclear power, which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean energy source that can help mitigate the serious problem of anthropogenic global warming.
War and Peace is a 2002 Indian documentary film directed by Anand Patwardhan. The film covers the Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons tests in 1998, as well as the nationalist rhetoric that accompanied these tests. It also explores the ill-effects of the Indian test on the surrounding population and the reactions to the test among the government and the public. The latter part of the film also covers the perception of nuclear weapons in Japan and the United States. Upon the film's completion, the Indian censor board demanded that Patwardhan make 21 cuts before it could be released, including cutting all speeches by politicians. Patwardhan refused and took the matter to court; the Bombay high court ruled in his favour a year later, and the film was released without any cuts.
Heather Ann Croall is an international arts festival CEO and artistic director and documentary producer, best known for leading Sheffield Doc/Fest and Adelaide Fringe, and her work on live music / archive films including The Big Melt, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, Girt By Sea, From Scotland With Love, Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise
The Bomb is a 2015 American documentary film about the history of nuclear weapons, from theoretical scientific considerations at the very beginning, to their first use on August 6, 1945, to their global political implications in the present day. The film was written and directed by Rushmore DeNooyer for PBS. The project took a year and a half to complete, since much of the film footage and images were only recently declassified by the United States Department of Defense.
Atomic is an original soundtrack album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, released on 1 April 2016 on Rock Action Records.
Before the Flood is a collaboration soundtrack album by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Mogwai and Gustavo Santaolalla for Fisher Stevens's film of the same name. It was originally made available as an Apple Music exclusive on October 21, 2016 and received a wide digital release on October 28. A CD release is scheduled for December 16, 2016 with a vinyl release to follow. The song "A Minute to Breathe" was first made available as a digital single on October 7, 2016. The album was released on Lakeshore Records.