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During the month of April, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Pittsburgh Filmmakers will hold the fourth annual Nuclear Sundays Film festival at Filmmakers' Regent Square theater. This event seeks to draw audiences interested both in the issues related to nuclear weapon and in cinema as an art form. The festival features a series of four films, one shown each Sunday night in April at 7:30 PM, that explore issues related to government decision-making about nuclear weapons, the effects of nuclear weapons on ordinary people, and organizing to prevent nuclear war and its consequences. Following each film is an expert-led discussion of both the political and aesthetic issues that the film brings up. Past films have included Dr. Strangelove, Atomic Café, and I Live in Fear. This year's lineup includes The Beginning or the End (1947) on April 4th, War Games (1983) on April 11th, Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959) on April 18th, and The Sacrifice (1986) on April 25th. The Beginning or the End, the first film in the series, is a first-hand look at the rhetoric the US government originally used to sell the American people on the nuclear arms buildup at the very beginning of the Cold War. MGM made the film, a fictionalized account of the Manhattan Project, shortly after World War Two with an unusual amount of cooperation from both the Truman White House and the military. The process produced a film that, later critics have agreed, was largely a pro-nuclear weapon propaganda piece. After the film, to-be-announced speaker will discuss government manipulation of the media and war related propaganda from a historical perspective. War Games is a thriller that looks at the precariousness of weapons security systems, and the danger of an accidental nuclear strike. Donald H. MacNeil, a physicist who has spoken and written on nuclear issues for several decades will speak after the film. Hiroshima, Mon Amour, by the French director Alain Rasnais, is widely regarded as a groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece. Highly innovative camerawork and imagery help to create a powerful story about the human consequences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Marcia Landy, Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh will speak about the film. The Sacrifice, Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's last film, is also regarded as a modern masterpiece. A complex film, epic in scope, it deals with the decisions of an individual Swedish family facing the imminent threat of nuclear war. Bill Judson, the former Curator of Film and Video at the Carnegie Museum of Art will discuss the film. All shows begin at 7:30. Tickets are $6, $5 for seniors and students, and can be purchased at the door. Series passes, good for four admissions are $18 each, and can be purchased through the Merton Center. Call the Merton Center at 412-361-3022 for details about passes. - Patricia Lietz |