Hot Docs Premiere ‘Atomic Hope’ About Pro-Nuclear Movement Drops Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Irish director Frankie Fenton explores the movement of global activists who believe nuclear power is our best hope to fight climate change in “Atomic Hope: Inside the Pro-Nuclear Movement,” which world premieres May 3 at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Paris-based documentary specialist Java Films, which is handling world sales on the film, has given Variety exclusive access to the trailer.Intimately filmed across more than a decade, “Atomic Hope” follows the small movement of nuclear-energy advocates from Japan to Switzerland, America to Australia, as they try to win over a skeptical public – despite stiff opposition from traditional environmentalists and other interest groups.Fenton admits he was as much a nuclear-energy skeptic as the next when he began researching the film. “I’m like anybody else: I started off being anti-nuclear and being scared of even the word ‘nuclear,’” the director told Variety. “The subject matter is so embedded in our culture – especially our pop culture – that it’s almost unthinkable to be pro-nuclear starting off.” With time and research, his position began to shift, even as the signs of an impending climate disaster became increasingly difficult to ignore. “I think a grown-up conversation needs to happen regarding how we combat taking down our fossil fuel emissions as soon as possible,” Fenton said. “Whether we’re pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear, the thing to really understand is that if we’re going to get rid of nuclear power…what does that really mean?”“Atomic Hope” screens in the Changing Face of Europe strand at Hot Docs.