After engaging crowds in six locations across the country, the International Uranium Festival is all set to meet people in the garden city of India on Feb 2 and 3. For two days the festival will present to viewers every possible perspective on the yellow cake – uranium – and its uses and impact.

The festival will screen 13 films on each day at Suchitra Film Society in Banashankari, including Yellow Oscar winner Not for Public Release:

A Nuclear Incident in Lock Haven, Bill Keisling. The festival also includes two films made by Indian filmmakers: Jadugoda – The Black Magic by Shriprakash and Toxic Neglect by Moushumi Basu.

Marcia Gomes de Oliveira, Brazilian social scientist and filmmaker, is the Executive Director of the festival, and Norbert G. Suchanek, the German writer and filmmaker, is the General Director of the festival.

Ranchi-based filmmaker and National Award winner Shriprakash is the India coordinator of the festival.

Bringing to Bangalore narratives and experiences from across the world, the festival is attempting to enrich the debate on nuclear energy. To a country that is touted to be an emerging super power, nuclear energy plays an important role in the trajectory of the country, especially as it has employed the energy source for both civilian as well as military use.

Before we take up positions on either side of the nuclear debate, it is important to educate ourselves of all the various contours of nuclear energy.

The International Uranium Film Festival is dedicated to films about all radioactive elements like the Uranium atom  and the possible dangers to Planet Earth’s environment and the very survival of humanity, from both its military and peaceful uses. This festival is unique as it is the only festival in the world dedicated to this vitally important global issue. It includes both documentary and fiction films on issues like:

Uranium mining, nuclear power plants, atomic bombs, nuclear waste, radioactive risks, nuclear medicine, Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. Many of these films screened during the festival are critically acclaimed international award winning documentaries. The task of the Uranium Film Festival is big: to help to create awareness amongst the citizens of Planet Earth about the dangers of the atomic bomb and atomic energy, not just for the present generation but for future generations too. Lakhs of people have died from the fallout from above-ground atomic bomb testing, and many lakhs more will die in the coming decades and centuries, as the radioactive elements released into the environment from these tests have a life of hundreds and thousands of years. Nuclear waste from nuclear power plants remains radioactive for more than 1 lakh years. How will our coming generations protect themselves from this deathly waste, for which no long term storage system is possible. An accident in a nuclear plant can affect half the globe. Clearly, these are huge issues, spanning the entire globe, for centuries, and are difficult to comprehend for the human mind. Independent information about nuclear risks is also important for independent decision making. Societies and peoples have the right to choose whether they want to follow the nuclear road or not.

Films, movies, and documentaries are a very important medium to create awareness and enpower the people. The festival stimulates the discussion about the nuclear question and stimulates the production of new documentaries, movies and animated films about any nuclear or radioactive issue. It gives “nuclear” filmmakers an international audience and helps them make an impact on global public opinion. The best and most important productions receive the festival award “Yellow Oscar”.

The 1st International Uranium Film Festival began in May 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, from where it travelled to several cities in Latin America, and then to other parts of the world. This year, for the first time, the festival travels to India. Shriprakash, the National Award winning film-maker from Ranchi, is the festival coordinator in India. The festival is being organised in 10 Indian cities: New Delhi, Shillong, Ranchi, Manipal, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Trichur and Mumbai.

Banshankari, 2nd stage FEB 2- 2013 11 AM to 1-30 PM
Australian Atomic Confessions
Blowin’ in the Wind The Third Nuclear Bomb – The veterans Accusation by Maurizio Torrealta
LUNCH BREAK
2-15 PM to 8 PM
Yellowcake by Brock Williams (10 min)
Toxic Neglect Yellow Cake – The Dirt Behind Uranium (shortened)
COFFEE BREAK
Chernobyl: Invisible Thief Leonids Storys
Coffee Break (Fikapaus) Indian Point: Nowhere to Run
Into Eternity ————————————————————- FEB 3- 2013
11 AM to 1-30 PM
Climate of Hope (30 mins) Buddah Weeps in Jadugoda (52 mins) Sacred Poiseon (30 mins) The Return of Navajo Boy (57 mins)
LUNCH BREAK
2-15 PM to 8 PM
Sacred Ground
The Secret and the Sacred. Two Worlds at Los Alamos. Deadly Deception (29 mins)  and/or Not For Public Release – A nuclear Incident in Lock Haven (73) mins
COFFEE BREAK
The Red Button (Czerwony Guzik)
Beating The Bomb ——————————————————–