The year 2023 ends with a happy surprise for the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) and young film directors who have taken on the topic of nuclear power. The California based "Samuel Lawrence Foundation“ has donated a new award to the International Uranium Film Festival to be given to the best film of the year directed by promising new directors.
The "Samuel Lawrence Foundation award for the best young filmmaker" is to be awarded with a $1,000 cash prize. „We are extremely grateful for the donation of the Samuel Lawrence Foundation award for the best young filmmaker“, says the festival's executive director Márcia Gomes de Oliveira. „This is a milestone for the International Uranium Film Festival and an important support and incentive for young filmmakers who dedicate themselves to this for mankind fundamental and at the same time difficult topic of nuclear power and radioactive dangers.
“ Radioactivity is not visible, has no taste and no color. Márcia Gomes: „The creativity of young filmmakers helps to bring the consequences of the use of nuclear power, from uranium mining to nuclear waste, to the public and helps ensure that nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl, Fukushima and the victims of uranium mining and nuclear weapons are not forgotten.“ „Our special thanks also go to the Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) in Chicago, which established the valuable contact with the Samuel Lawrence Foundation“, adds the festival co-founder Norbert G. Suchanek.
“ We hope for a long and successful cooperation for the well-being of the earth and its people.“ The 13th edition of the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro will be held at Rio's famous Modern Art Museum (MAM Rio) Cinematheque, May 25 to June 1, 2024. Prior to Rio in March and April, the world's unique film festival on all nuclear issues embarks on a marathon tour across North America and will be held in 10 cities including Ashville (NC), Chicago (IL), Las Vegas (NV), Irvine (CA), Salem (OR), Santa Barbara (CA), Seattle (WA), Tucson (AZ), Vancouver in Canada and the Navajo Nation capital Window Rock (AZ).
The Samuel Lawrence Foundation (SLF), launched in 2010 in San Diego, fosters community engagement in creative endeavors and participation in local and global matters of scientific concern. In addition, the SLF is an unrelenting opponent of the nuclear waste storage near San Onofre State Beach.
It dedicated significant resources toward addressing the ongoing issue of radioactive waste improperly stranded at the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant. „We continue to mitigate the irresponsibility of the situation with the vigilant scientific inquiry and community education critical in challenging an investor-owned utility“, says SLF President Bart Ziegler. „Ignorance is as much a danger as the nuclear risks we seek to resolve.
Through our newsletters and social media, the public can also receive steady streams of digital communications to stay informed and involved with issues directly impacting our community's wellbeing.“ https://www.samuellawrencefoundation.org
The Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) is Illinois’ Nuclear Power Watchdog, committed to ending nuclear power since 1981 and is advocating for sustainable ecologically sound and socially just energy solutions. https://neis.org About the Festival Founded in 2010 by the Brazilian social scientist Márcia Gomes de Oliveira and the German environmental journalist Norbert G. Suchanek, the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) is dedicated to all nuclear topics and the entire nuclear fuel chain, from uranium mining to nuclear waste, from nuclear war to nuclear accidents.
For the past 13 years, the Uranium Film Festivals have been held annually in Rio de Janeiro and Berlin and in addition also in several other countries and cities such as Lisbon, New Delhi, Montreal, New York and Washington DC. Since 2016, when the International Uranium Film Festival was held for the first time at the famous Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles in collaboration with Hollywood star Kat Kramer, it has also been known as the Atomic Age Cinema Fest.
The IUFF relies on hard, voluntary work and donations from individuals and institutions. www.uraniumfilmfestival.org Contact for more information Márcia Gomes de Oliveira Co-Founder & Executive Director International Uranium Film Festival uraniofestival@gmail.com Norbert G. Suchanek Co-Founder & General Director International Uranium Film Festival norbert.suchanek@uraniumfilmfestival.org www.uraniumfilmfestival.org