Government-produced atomic testing films
from the five declared nuclear nations were screened during
an evening at The Center in January, as part of The Center's
ongoing Nuclear Proving Grounds of the World Program.
Films from France, China, the former USSR, the UK, and
the USA were shown back to back, to a packed house at
the CLUI function room in Los Angeles.
The evening was hosted by CLUI Director
Matthew Coolidge, and the filmmaker Peter Kuran, director
of the film Trinity and Beyond, who has unearthed many
remarkable films at government archives, and has been
spearheading efforts to declassify some of the thousands
of historic military industrial films in archives across
the nation.
Mr. Kuran provided the British nuclear testing
film "This Little Ship," which tells the story of the
first British nuclear test, off the Monte Bello Islands
of Australia, from the perspective of the sacrificial
ship which held the bomb in its hold. Mr. Kuran also provided
the lyrical Soviet film (which he purchased directly from
the Russian government), which depicted the fielding of
the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, the 58 megaton
Superbomb, which was dropped from a plane flying over
the Siberian island of Novaya Zemyla. Simultaneous, live
translation for the Soviet film was provided by CLUI associate
George Chialtas.
Alex Du Prel, editor of Tahiti Pacifique
Magazine, obtained the French testing film for The Center,
using contacts in the French government. This film, discussing
testing at Muraroa Atoll, French Polynesia, in 1995, was
the most recently produced film presented at the screening.
Igor Vamos, of the CLUI, discovered the Chinese testing
film in the archives at the University of California (while
researching footage for his documentary film about Le
Petomane, the turn-of-the-century French performer). This
remarkable film features horsemen galloping into fallout
zones, and describes the first three Chinese nuclear tests.
The original film was obtained by American intelligence
sources in China, and apparently was not declassified
in the US until the 1980's.
The United States Department of Energy supplied
the US testing program film, about underground testing
at the Nevada Test Site.
