Uranium Film Festival's blog

Saturday, July the 14th ended the 2nd International Uranium Film
Festival in the Cinemateca Rio de Janeiro’s Modern Art Museum MAM. Three films
from USA, Sweden and Germany were honoured with the Festival’s Yellow Oscar
Awards. Bill Keislings "Not for Public Release: a Nuclear Incident in Lock
Haven", USA, received the Best Feature Award and Swedish Filmmaker Marko
Kattilakoski the Short film Award for his movie Coffee Break (Fikapaus).
"Leonids Story" by German film director Rainer Ludwigs and Ukrainian producer
Tetyana Chernyavska got the Yellow Oscar in the animated film category. Peter
Greenway’s extraordinary "Atomic Bombs on the Planet Earth" received the special
recognition "Hors Concours". He's in a category in his own.

During three weeks the Festival screened 54 documentaries, movies and
animated films from all continents. Parallel to the Festival a photo exhibition
by US-Photographer Robert del Tredici and the Atomic Photographers Guild was
shown in the foyer of the MAM Cinema.

The 2nd International Uranium Film Festival of Rio de Janeiro honoured three
films from Germany/Ukraine, Sweden and USA with the Yellow Oscar Award last
Saturday. In Respect for the indigenous peoples of Brazil, the Award Ceremony of
the Uranium film Festival was opened by three indigenous Representatives from
three different parts of the country. Together with Chief Carlos Tukano from the
Alto Rio Negro and Afonso Apurinã from Boca do Acre, indigenous singer Zahy
Guajajara from the State of Maranhão interpreted a powerful holy song of here
people.

The Ceremony continued with "Atomic Bombs on the Planet Earth" by Peter
Greenaway. That outstanding experimental documentary, that shows the insanity of
over 2200 atomic bombs dropped on the planet Earth between 1945 and 1989 mainly
by the five atomic powers, was honoured with the special recognition “Hors
Concurs”. “Peter Greenaway, a multi-artist with more that 70 films produced is
in a category in his own”, said Uranium Film Festival Judge João Luiz Leocádio,
Nuclear Engineer and Professor for Cinema at Niteroi’s Univercity UFF
(Universidade Federal Fluminense).

Marko Kattilakoski’s movie Coffee Break (Fikapaus) from Sweden received the
Yellow Oscar in the short film category “Coffee break is a movie with a minimal
budget but a lot of heart. It is a dark, ironic Swedish comedy-thriller about
Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in history”, said festival director
Norbert G. Suchanek. “The nuclear issues need films like Fikapaus. And I hope
that the Yellow Oscar stimulates not only Marko to continue his genius work, but
also other `nuclear´ filmmakers to follow his example.”

In his award statement Marko Kattilakoski said: “Coffee Break was a story I
had to tell. The team I gathered believed in the idea and we made the film with
minimal budget and a lot of heart. I was very proud and happy that "Coffee
Break" was accepted to the festival. I am even prouder and happier now receiving
the Yellow Oscar 2012.”

Bill Keislings "Not For Public Release: A nuclear incident in Lock Haven”,
produced in 2010 won the festival’s Best Feature Award. The documentary examines
the problem of privatized Pentagon nuclear waste, and how the government's
secretive handling of this sensitive issue places unsuspecting citizens in
unacceptable risk.

„Thank you for the good news that my documentary `Not For Public Release´ has
won the Yellow Oscar Award”, said Bill Keisling. “The nuclear incident in Lock
Haven, Pennsylvania, and its many victims, have received no publicity whatsoever
from the corporate media in Pennsylvania and the United States. The Yellow Oscar
Award from the Uranium Film Festival will not only shine light on my film, it
will help to illuminate the plight of the many nuclear victims in the United
States, most of whom are usually completely ignored by the government and media
here.”

Last but not least the festival honoured “Leonids Story” by German Film
director Rainer Ludwigs and Ukrainian Producer Tetyana
Chernyavska. Leonids Story is an outstanding, heartbreaking animated
documentary about the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl 1986. Judge Leo Ribeiro,
Professor for animated film at Rio de Janeiro’s Univercity PUC (Pontificia
Universidade Catolica) said: “Leonids Story is an Animated-Documentary
Short, a genre that is booming right now. Rainer Ludwigs mixes digital and
traditional techniques in a perfect balance. The use of images and pictures
mixed with drawings creates a dialogue between reality and imagination that the
film leads to a shocking end.”

In his impressive Award speech Rainer Ludwigs said in the Cinemateca of Rio
de Janeiro’s Modern Art Museum: “We are happy to be part of this festival, as
filmmakers and as viewers. Here I saw films that taught me, that this chain
begins with the unhealthy mining of uranium, gets worse during the whole process
until the reprocessing of spent fuel, silently polluting complete coast areas,
nature paradises, bringing cancer and other diseases, destroying peoples health
and professions. The festival has opened our eyes. It has shown us, nuclear
problems are not only national problems but have a worldwide structure. A
festival like this is an important institution and may be the only weapon
against this worldwide crime, which brings profit to few and ruins the life of
millions. This festival has opened our horizons, so we hope that it will be
established in cities all over the world.”

Rainer Ludwigs: "We would like to thank the Uranium Film Festival Team for
their enthusiasm, for their initiative, for the invitation and being so heartily
welcomed in this great city Rio de Janeiro, in this country which represents so
well most of the natural wonders of our world.”

All the Yellow Oscar winners and the nominees of the 2012 Uranium Film
Festival were selected by the 5 members Jury of the Festival: João Luiz
Leocádio, Nuclear Engineer and Professor of Film and Video at Niterois
Univercity UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF); Leo Ribeiro, Animation
filmmaker and Master in Design at Rio de Janeiros Univercity PUC (Pontifícia
Universidade Católica); Gilberto Santeiro, Brazilian Filmmaker, Director and
Curator of the Cinemateca of the Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro; Dawid
Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Brazil; Norbert G. Suchanek,
Human rights and environmental Journalist, Writer and Uranium Film Festival
Director.

The Yellow Oscar 2012 is a model of the Tram of Rio de Janeiro’s famous
artist quarter Santa Teresa. “The model of the called Bonde, Rio de Janeiro’s
last Tram, is a symbol of a sustainable public transport that serves the local
community of Santa Teresa where the International Uranium Film Festival was born
last year“, said Festival Executive Director Marcia Gomes de Oliveira.

"The 2nd International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro is over, but
it continues with travelling festivals", declared the festival directors Marcia
Gomes de Oliveira and Norbert G. Suchanek at the end of the Ceremony. "A
selection of the best films of the Festivals 2012 and 2011 will be presented
during the next travelling Uranium Film Festival in Berlin, planned for October.
“The Festival thanks the host, Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art and the
director of the Cinemateca Gilberto Santeiro as well as the Heinrich Boell
Foundation Brazil and its director Dawid Danilo Bartelt for its valuable support
and the local supporters of Santa Teresa, Bar do Mineiro and Armazem São Thiago
for there hospitality.”

After the Ceremony, the Party went on in the so-called Gardens of the
Cinemateca with traditional Caipirinha and Rio de Janeiro’s famous Cachaça
Magnífica!

Further information and photos

Contact

Marcia Gomes de Oliveira
Diretora Executiva

Uranium Film Festival
www.uraniumfilmfestival.org
info@uraniumfilmfestival.org