Tschernobyl 86: Der Supergau
Volker Heise
April 26, 1986. Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explodes in the middle of the Cold War. A radioactive cloud spreads across the region.
Forty years after Chernobyl. The new film by Volker Heise tells the story of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe for the first time from both East and West German as well as Ukrainian perspectives, using exclusively archival footage. A gripping political thriller featuring previously unreleased archive material that makes the events of that time feel disturbingly present.
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The film recounts the events chronologically, beginning with the moment of the explosion. Parallel to the efforts in Chernobyl to bring the nuclear disaster under control, the political consequences of the catastrophe in Germany are portrayed. In East Germany, the population is kept in the dark, while in West Germany the story is reported around the clock, on every channel. Confusion spreads, and the public begins to lose trust.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the nuclear disaster, it is told for the first time exclusively through archival material, directly and without commentary. The immediacy of the footage creates an emotional closeness that is almost impossible to escape. One encounters a disaster that should not have happened; politicians and scientists who had not anticipated it; people who put themselves in great danger in order to contain it.
The fear of the unknown develops a momentum that can no longer be controlled and has no end.
“People feel as if they are living on a volcano, facing an uncertain future, surrounded by apocalyptic narratives in a deeply polarized society. The film is a journey into another era, but at the same time also a journey into our present.”
Director VOLKER HEISE
Editor JANINE DAUTERICH
Editorial HANNAH KELLER
Post Production Supervisor THEO BASS
Musical Score JOHAHNES REPKA, THEO BASS
Archive Producer JANNE GÄRTNER, ORIANA RAMHORST OBLEA, JULIA MILZ
Line Producer SILKE STILLIG
Producer YAN SCHOENEFELD
Executive Producer STEFAN KAUERTZ, YAN SCHOENEFELD, FLORIAN SCHEWE