Nuclear Winter Film Series Starts This Week at ABQ Guild Theater

From Nancy Galloway:

There is a wonderful Nuclear Winter film series at the Guild for the next 3 or 4 weeks. (Located in Albuquerque at 3405 Central, on Central between Girard and Carlisle):

Mon, Dec. 13; Tues, Dec. 14; Wed, Dec. 15:
3:45 - Atomic Café - 88 minutes
5:30 - Half-Life - 87 minutes
7:15 - Atomic Café - 88 minutes
9pm - Half-Life - 87 minutes 

Monday, Dec. 20; Tues., Dec. 21; Wed, Dec. 22:
5:30 – Atomic Filmmakers – 52 minutes and Crossroads - 36 minutes (double feature)
8pm – Atomic Filmmakers – 52 minutes and Crossroads – 36 minutes (double feature)

Monday, Dec. 27; Tues, Dec. 28; Wed., Dec. 29:
2pm – I Live in Fear (113 minutes)
4:30 – I Live in Fear (113 minutes)
7pm – I Live in Fear (113 minutes)
9:15 – I Live in Fear (113 minutes)

Monday, Jan. 3; Tues, Jan. 4; Wed., Jan. 5:
The Day After Trinity (times to be announced)

More information on Nuclear Winter from Roy Durfee for the KUNM Evening Report:

A pair of films from the 1980s evokes the 1950s rather well in a Monday through Wednesday double bill at The Guild. The ‘50s in question here are the ‘50s of the Cold War, above ground nuclear testing, underground backyard bomb shelters, and the use of “atomic” as an all-purpose advertising adjective meant to imply modern and exciting. The Atomic Café skillfully combines archival footage of training films, bomb tests, newsreels, and smirking politicians justifying the use and urgency of atomic weapons in a world threatened by communism. Beginning with New Mexico’s own Trinity test from July of 1945, the film carries on through the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fatuous comments of those who would see god’s work in nuclear destruction, and the testing programs in the South Pacific and Nevada, building up to the nuclear dread that preceded the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early ‘60s. That dread, somewhat diluted by lack of imagination, perhaps, was the basis of “air raid” drills in schools, with students ducking under desks and covering heads with arms and hands. 

Half-Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age looks at the same time period from the perspective of Marshall Islanders who became literal guinea pigs in the mad scientific rush to “knowledge” about radioactivity. U.S. weather men involved in the above ground testing in the Pacific make it clear that the prevailing winds which carried radioactive fallout to the isolated islanders was well known to the testers and that the exposure was an intentional nuclear experiment. The smug complacency of those who praise here the “happy amenable savages” of the South Pacific is strenuously contrasted with the indignation of the islanders themselves, who speak of being treated “like worthless animals” and accuse the Americans of being “smart at doing stupid things.” The stupidity of nuclear weaponry is one of the clear messages of The Guild’s ongoing “Nuclear Winter” program, and that stupidity is personalized by many of the films found here. 

To understand the threat of weapons of mass destruction, real or imagined, it is helpful to understand the world and mindset into which they were originally introduced. At one point, “The Bomb,” like Elvis or The Beatles, was a part of pop culture, musical aspects of which were researched for The Atomic Café by UNM’s own David Dunaway. This double bill offers insight into the world as we know it, as well as a world that once was. This is Roy Durfee for the KUNM Evening Report.
______
Detailed program notes will be available at www.guildcinema.com

Ticket prices:
$5 for all shows beginning before 6:00 PM,
$7 General Admission thereafter.
$5 Seniors/Students/Kids under 12
Please phone (505)255-1848 for any additional information.

====================

Volunteer opportunity, petition drive:
Nuclear Winter film series:
Looking for volunteers to collect Nukes Out of Duke City petitions:

This is a great opportunity to collect signatures on our petition to have the 2510 wmds at Kirtland dismantled.

You are invited to attend and to stand outside the Guild before or after a movie and collect signatures.  The owners of the Guild have given us permission to do this. Volunteers will stand outside and collect signatures, then see the movie, then collect signatures after the movie as well. Please call Jeanne at 401-4808 if you can help.