SFCS: Richland
December 6, 2023
Seattle Film Critics Society PNW Awards
Approaching the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Hanford reactor, Richland, Washington’s residents wrestle with both pride and ambivalence about their role in the Nagasaki bombing and the nuclear legacy they have left behind.
“With curiosity and care, Richland peers into the heart of a small town, acknowledges the joys, and brings the pain and loss and broken promises into the light." —The Hollywood Reporter
Built by the US government to house the workers manufacturing plutonium at the Hanford nuclear site for the Manhattan Project, Richland, Washington has long taken pride in its heritage as a nuclear company town, and its role in helping create the atomic bomb. High school football players take the field for games with their uniforms, jerseys, and helmets proudly bearing the symbol of a nuclear mushroom cloud. But today, Richland’s local population is divided between pride and ambivalence about their past: some striving to reconcile with those directly affected, while others remain steadfastly proud of their town’s history and the symbol of US strength that it has long-projected to the world. With clear-eyed precision, Director Irene Lusztig captures a kaleidoscopic snapshot of a Washington town at a generational crossroads, weaving together footage of its archival past and observational present with interviews of current and past Richland residents to create a lyrical meditation on home, land, and legacy.
- Director: Irene Lusztig
- Country: USA
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 94 min.
- Producer: Sara Archambault, Irene Lusztig
- Cinematographers: Helki Frantzen
- Editors: Irene Lusztig
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Yours in Sisterhood (2018), The Motherhood Archives (2013)
- Language: English