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The Forgotten Nuclear Victims

From 1950 to 1990, France, the United-States and the United Kingdom dropped hundreds of nuclear bombs on the Pacific islands. At the cost of sacrificing the local populations. Each country plays the clock and hopes for the silent disappearance of the victims of the first generation. But the atom leaves more traces than expected. Genetic abnormalities and pathologies appear in new generations. They fight back and take their destiny in hand.

For a long time, the French State denied the impact of the bomb on these populations before finally setting up a compensation process for veterans. These compensations are uncertain and frequently curbed by a complex system. As how can these pathologies, that now affect the descendants, be recognized?

It’s the battle of a new generation fighting all around Oceania. In Tahiti, Hina, suffering from leukemia, clings to life driven by this desire to understand her illness and to know her heritage. Through her foundation, she helps the diseased and Polynesians to reappropriate their nuclear history. Tens of thousands of kilometres away, in northern Oceania, another young woman is also leading this battle. Ariana is 25 years old, her grandparents are nuclear survivors. France was one of the last countries to enter the mad nuclear race, but the United States opened the ball in 1946 in the Marshall Islands. The population was evacuated, diseases and malformations appeared: the collateral damage of nuclear testing is important and immutable. A compensation process has been in place since the 1980s, but Marshall Islanders continue the battle for acknowledgment.

When will the effects of the bombing stop? What is the future for the new generations? Are the major nuclear countries ready to pay? Driven by their conviction and helped by political and scientific personalities, children and grandchildren of the atom respond against these great nations.

PRODUCTION INFO

  • Year: 2023
  • Duration: 55 mins
  • Production: Little Big Story
  • Director: Suliane Favennec
  • Available Versions:
  • Country of production: France

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

  • FIFO International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival (Tahiti 2023), BIFED Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary 2023 (Turkey), International Labour Film Festival Türkiye 2024 (Turkey), Documentarist Film festival 2024 (Turkey), Filmambiente 2024 (Brazil), Globale Mittelhessen Documentary Film Festival 2024 (Germany)

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