FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHAT IS THE NUCLEAR THREAT TODAY?

THE FORGOTTEN BOMB

“…an EXCELLENT documentary film.
A GREAT RESOURCE.”
- The National Catholic Reporter

A filmmaker’s journey to discover the true state of nuclear power.

AVAILABLE ON DVD JANUARY 17, 2012
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LOS ANGELES (December 17, 2011) With the unexpected death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and the succession of his untried twenty-eight year old son Kim Jong Un, the threat of nuclear escalation looms once again. Media speculation of the heir is anything but optimistic; some predict that he may be “even more dangerous than his father.” Bloomberg news suggests that Kim’s death may “prompt his son to accelerate nuclear weapons development and menace his neighbors in a show of force” and with other 9 nations who also have nuclear weapons on alert, resulting in 23,000 weapons worldwide, North Korea certainly is not the only one ensuring fear in the world. On January 17, 2012 Cinema Libre Studio will release on DVD and digital platforms, the topically documentary THE FORGOTTEN BOMB.

New Mexico filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey spent nearly four years working on their directorial debut, THE FORGOTTEN BOMB. They journeyed around the world gathering a comprehensive perspective of the various sides of the nuclear weapons debate, while surveying the nuclear weapons cycle and its continuing effect on the world today.

Those interviewed in the film include several hibakusha (Japanese atomic bomb survivors), former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Jonathan Schell, Gar Alperovitz, and Jim Douglass, former LANL Director Harold Agnew, Ivan Oelrich of the Federation of American Scientists, Dr. Mike McCally of Physicians for Social Responsibility, as well as religious leaders, Rabbi Michael Lerner and Father John Dear. Joni Arends, the Director of the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety of Santa Fe, also shares her expertise about weapons production and the pollution it left at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

The duo shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Las Vegas, Tucson, and New Mexico. The original concept for the film was to examine the perspectives on nuclear weapons found in the Hiroshima Peace Museum in Japan with those of the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. However, that changed after the LANL refused to let cameras in Bradbury Museum, despite a letter from New Mexico’s Senator Jeff Bingaman written on their behalf.

SYNOPSIS:
When the Cold War ended, the generations that lived through it were relieved to finally vanquish the specter of a mushroom cloud from their minds. But today, thousands of nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia remain on high-alert, still poised to destroy the planet.

In Japan, atomic bomb survivors struggle with nightmarish memories and negative health effects; atomic veterans, down-winders, and atomic workers around the globe also continue to suffer from the effects of radiation exposure. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 may have temporarily damaged the soul of Japan, but has anyone ever taken an account of what the Bomb has done, and continues to do, to the soul of the country that dropped it? How might we alter the soul of a nation in order to truly live without the threat of total destruction?

In a globe-trotting journey through various perspectives on nuclear weapons, filmmaker Bud Ryan takes us from the Peace Museums of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the “Nuclear Science” museums of the United States; to the place that birthed the atomic bomb, (and cares for it still) the state of New Mexico, where Ryan now lives. Featuring former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, authors Gar Alperovitz and Jonathan Schell, Japanese bomb survivors, and many others, THE FORGOTTEN BOMB explores our pre-conceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed. www.forgottenbomb.com | Facebook| Twitter | Clips and Trailer

The Forgotten Bomb Official Trailer from Cinema Libre Studio on Vimeo.

THE FORGOTTEN BOMB was independently produced by A Tale of Two Museums, LLC in association with halflife* digital, inc.,

DVD DETAILS:
SRP: $19.95 | TRT: 94 minutes | Street date: 1/17/12
UPC: 881394114326 | Catalog: CLS 1143
Genre: Documentary

DVD EXTRAS:
• Extended interviews including: George Shultz, former US Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Treasury for the Nixon Administration and Secretary of State for the Reagan Administration who authored an OpEd piece with Henry Kissinger, William Perry and Sam Nunn in the Wall Street Journal called, “Towards a Nuclear Free World.”

ABOUT CINEMA LIBRE: Cinema Libre Studio a leader in the distribution of social issue documentaries and features by passionate filmmakers. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Cinema Libre team has released over one hundred films including the Sundance Audience Award‐Winning FUEL, THE END OF POVERTY, Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER and Eva Longoria’s THE HARVEST/ LA COSECHA and Rachid Bouchareb’s DUST OF LIFE, LITTLE SENEGAL and nationally releasing LONDON RIVER in theatres this December 2011. The studio is developing John Perkins’ best‐selling memoirs, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, into a major motion picture. www.cinemalibrestudio.com | Updates | Facebook | Twitter

For screener and interview requests contact: Cassie Brewer, cbrewer@cinemalibrestudio.com
For screenings, grassroots and educational use contact: screening (at) cinemalibrestudio (dot) com