Windscale 1957: The Nuclear Winter

Peter Watkins' global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it, as well as a meditation on the inherent bias of the media, and documentaries themselves.

This film is a factual and chronological account of the events preceding the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II and the significant effect of the atomic bomb on peacetime projects and events of the atomic age.

In a quiet forest, a sign warns of radiation hazard. “Is this the past or the future?” muses the masked figure who appears like a kind of ghost in nuclear disaster areas. At a time when nuclear power may be re-emerging as an alternative to fossil fuels, this calmly observed and compelling tour takes us to places that may serve as a warning.

The American Southwest holds a dark legacy as the place where nuclear weapons were invented and built. Navajo people have long held this place sacred, and continue to fight for a future that transcends historical trauma. This is their story.

Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as "Broken Arrows." A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered.Now, recently declassified documents reveal the history and secrecy surrounding the events known as "Broken Arrows". There have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents since 1950. Six of these nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered. What does this say about our defense system? What does this mean to our threatened environment? What do we do to rectify these monumental "mistakes"? Using spectacular special effects, newly uncovered and recently declassified footage, filmmaker Peter Kuran explores the accidents, incidents and exercises in the secret world of nuclear weapons.

On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched massive strikes on Iran, claiming an imminent nuclear threat. This film traces how the world reached this point after more than three decades of shadow war over “the bomb”. Israel has tried to block Tehran’s nuclear drive with sabotage, assassinations and cyberwar – from the Stuxnet virus wrecking Natanz centrifuges to the AI-assisted killing of nuclear programme “father” Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and a commando raid stealing 1.5 tonnes of secret nuclear archive files. Iran insists uranium enrichment is its sovereign right and key to national identity and regional power. As Israel pounded Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025 and systematically weakened its allies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, nuclear talks continued in Geneva. Iran was edging towards diluting weapons-grade uranium – but Israel wasn’t prepared to wait, and pulled Washington into open war whose global consequences are only now beginning to unfold.

Farmers and parents of young children, who live in the Harrisburg, Pa., area, discuss their fears of radioactive contamination from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident in 1979. Scientists and physicians also expound on the lethal dangers of nuclear power and the risks in containment processes.

Documentary movie about testing of the largest nuclear weapon in history, the Tsar Bomba. Declassified and made available to the public in 2020.

"Alone in Fukushima" is a feature film documentary about Naoto Matsumura who remained in the nuclear zone with animals in Fukushima.

“Alone Again is Fukushima” is the long-awaited sequel to "Alone in Fukushima" (2015), which followed Naoto Matsumura, a man who remained in the nuclear zone in Fukushima to tend animals. The film has followed Naoto for nearly a decade and portrays how Naoto and the animals survived the residents' return to the town, Tokyo Olympics, and COVID-19. In the course of 10 years, many animals and humans were born and died. But Naoto remained in the town and took care of the animals. He raised chickens and kept bees in order to survive. In 2017, Tomioka became the place where people can come back to live, however most young people didn’t return. There is no end in sight for the nuclear crisis in Fukushima. The contaminated water is overflowing and will be pumped out to the ocean soon. Meanwhile the government is trying to restart the nuclear reactors all over the country. The film will give us a chance to reflect on this situation by looking at how Naoto and animals survive in Fukushima.

The Crowds of Chernobyl explores the reasons behind people's fascination with the (arguably) most famous exclusion zone in the world, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The film attempts to explain the drive behind the 'dark tourism' industry that has blossomed in the nuclear wasteland since 2011, when the site was opened up for tourists. As the interviews from a wide of people unravel why some (including the interviewees) might even make the zone a permanent part of their life; the haunting and provoking visuals invite the viewer to make up their own mind.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the threat of a nuclear war between the USA and Russia has diminished, but the threat posed by nuclear weapons and materials on both sides has increased. As nuclear weapons age, they become unstable and begin to behave in unpredictable ways. This film is the first to go behind the scenes in Arzamas-16 - the Russian nuclear city so secret that it has never appeared on any map - and the American nuclear weapons laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, to see Russian and American bomb designers working together to reduce the risk. Exclusive archive material.

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Until recently, Europe felt safe under the US nuclear umbrella. But since Russia invaded Ukraine and Donald Trump was re-elected, transatlantic relations have deteriorated. Experts are calling for Europe to focus more on its own nuclear deterrent. But what options do nations on the continent have?

This captivating documentary on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the architect of the atomic bomb, explores his journey before the historic test and reveals the burden he carried after. De-classified documents, rare film footage and exclusive interviews, including Oppenheimer's grandson, show an intimate exploration of the burden Oppenheimer carried and the profound global impact still being debated today.

We've all heard of the atomic bomb, but in the late 1950s, an idea was conceived of a bomb which would maximize damage to people, but minimize damage to buildings and vital infrastructure: perfect for an occupying army. This is the story of a man and his bomb: a melding of world events and scientific discovery inspire the neutron bomb, one of the most hated nuclear weapons ever invented.

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Drawing upon eye-witness accounts from survivors and participants in the bombing of Hiroshima, this programme shows how both Japan and the United States are still facing enormous problems in coming to terms with the legacy of that fateful August day.

Scholars and eyewitnesses provide a picture of the 75 hours between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and document the contradictions, interrelationships, and ambiguities of politics and military strategy in time of war.

Documentary telling the story of the rise and fall of a daring experiment into atomic energy as the history of the Dounreay fast reactor is charted by the pioneers involved.