The Babushkas of Chernobyl
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, AT 6:45 PM
A STORY OF 3 UNLIKELY HEROINES IN THE MOST TOXIC PLACE ON EARTH…
In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, a defiant community of women scratches out an existence on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of interlopers—scientists, soldiers, and even ‘stalkers’—young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies. Why the film’s central characters, Hanna Zavorotyna, Maria Shovkuta, and Valentyna Ivanivna, chose to return after the disaster, defying the authorities and endangering their health, is a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny and the subjective nature of risk.
In 1986, Chornobyl became the site of the greatest nuclear accident in history. An area the size of Luxemburg was contaminated and closed off, but in the years following, some of the residents returned to the exclusion zone and made it their home. At the end of February, Chornobyl again made headlines around the world when it was invaded by a Russian occupying force. The Russians are no longer there but now, at the 36th anniversary of the accident, it is time to look back at the tragic history of Chornobyl.
The programme is as follows:
- 19.00 – Gunnar Þorri Pétursson, one of Iceland’s leading translators, will discuss and read from his translation of The Chernobyl Prayer by Nobel Prize winning author Svetlana Alexeivich.
- 19.15 – Writer and historian Valur Gunnarsson will discuss developments in the exclusion zone after the accident and read from his best-selling book Bjarmalönd, written in Ukraine in 2020.
- 19.30 – Screening of The Babushkas of Chornobyl.
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