Festival Program

7:00 pm / INTRODUCTION

7:30 pm - THE ATOMIC CAFE

USA, 1982 , directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty and Pierce Rafferty, 86 minutes.

A documentary about nuclear war and the nuclear arms race, consisting entirely of stock film clips. The film starts with footage of the 1945 Trinity test and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, intercut with an old interview with Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb. From there the film shows newsreels, commercials, public service films, and military training films, dealing with the paranoia and propaganda of the early atomic age. Topics include the nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll, the Red Scare, the development of the hydrogen bomb, continued Army nuclear testing, and the popularity of fallout shelters in the 1950s. The notorious short film Duck and Cover, which purported to teach schoolchildren about how to "duck and cover" to protect themselves in case of nuclear attack, is prominently featured.