“Downwind” producers said this week their 2023 documentary about the aftermath of decades of nuclear testing at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, can be seen on Peacock, the same platform where the Oscar-nominated blockbuster “Oppenheimer” is available for streaming this weekend.
According to a press release, “Downwind” can help the public understand “the complicated consequences” in terms of environmental and health impacts from the government’s 928 nuclear detonations from 1951 until 1992 at the property formerly known as the Nevada Test Site.
The roughly 90-minute documentary includes insights from tribal members and other notable downwinders on land affected by the radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb testing. Those interviewed include Mary Dickson, Claudia Peterson and Ian Zabarte.
The film also features famous entertainers. Actor and Utah native Matthew Modine is the project’s executive producer. Actor Michael Douglas, who appeared alongside Jane Fonda in 1979’s “China Syndrome,” and actor-comedian Lewis Black are also featured. The documentary is narrated by actor Martin Sheen, who was cited for illegally entering the Nevada site at the conclusion of an anti-nuclear rally in 2007.
The backers of the documentary said in a press release they hope it will call attention to the potential June expiration of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Renewal of the law was not included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this year.
A link to the trailer for the film can be found here. A December interview in Variety with Modine can be found here.
