Window Rock, AZ (November 13, 2013) – During December 2-4, 2013, the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) will be held in the homelands of indigenous communities sacrificed by the United States to produce uranium for the bombs of World War II and the Cold War. Although the Navajo Nation has a moratorium halting new uranium production, there are nearby uranium mining and milling facilities and local transport of radioactive materials happening today and more being proposed as the push for nuclear energy development continues, despite the dangers exemplified by Churchrock and Chernobyl.

Producer: Colleen Keane
USA, 45 min
Director’s Comments after the film
This illuminating film documents the largest radioactive waste spill in U.S. history – a national tragedy that received little attention. With the sound of a thunderclap, 94 million gallons of water contaminated with uranium mining waste broke through a United Nuclear Corporation storage dam in 1979. The water poured into the Puerco River in New Mexico – the main water supply for the Navajo Indians that live along the river, and a tributary of the major source of water for L.A. Navajo ranchers, their children, and farm animals waded through the river unaware of the danger.
The River That Harms tells the story of this tragedy and the toll it continues to take on the Navajos, who lost the use of their water. To the Navajos, this event is also a prophetic warning for all humanity.

The two and a half days of the event are free and open to the public for the purpose of Art and Awareness. The IUFF will highlight over 40 films from 15 countries, which explore not only the radioactive element “uranium”, but also the nuclear industry and resulting effects on local communities. These are documentaries, fiction, science fiction, comedies, experimental and animated films.

Since 20ll, this is the third IUFF to premiere in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and then travel the globe. The IUFF is the world’s only traveling film festival devoted to the entire Nuclear Fuel Chain, from uranium mining to uranium tailings and nuclear waste, from Hiroshima to Fukushima and Fallujah.

The festival will make its way from Albuquerque (Nov. 27-28) to Santa Fe (Nov. 30-Dec. 1), to Window Rock in December, and finally to Washington D.C. and New York City in early 2014. The founder of the IUFF, Norbert G. Suchanek of Germany, will be present at each screening along with Executive Director Marcia Gomes de Oliveira of Brazil and various producers and directors of the films. Each screening is organized by a diverse group of volunteers to bring these films to the wide screen.

Because of the tremendous impact uranium mining has had on Diné peoples, while these films are playing in the theatre of the Navajo Nation Museum, there will be several organizations coming together on the side to dialogue about the uranium legacy issues still plaguing the Navajo Nation and the new uranium mining permit applications threatening nearby communities and Sacred Sites. Community groups, residents and allies will meet for the two and a half days at the museum and in the local area. Online video streaming will be available via ustream.com during selected hours of the event.

Native t-shirt silk-screen printers will be on site for those who want to purchase or print souvenir tees to commemorate this special event, taking place exactly seven years after the historical Indigenous World Uranium Summit that was held in the same location in 2006.

Sponsors and contributors of the festival are recognized as Diné Bidziil, the International Uranium Film Festival, Honor the Earth, WMAN/IEN, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Seventh Generation Fund, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program & Front End Working Group, SW Indigenous Uranium Forum, Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America and volunteers.

Workshops, presentations, streaming schedule, updates, film schedule and additional information are available online at www.uraniumfilmfestival.org.