ABOUT THE FILM
ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE, a 46 minute documentary that follows anti-nuclear activists, tribal leaders, scientists and attorneys as they draw lessons from the decades-long campaign to shut down the Trojan Nuclear Power plant in Oregon and extend those lessons into a new struggle to stop small modular reactors (SMRs) from being built in the Pacific Northwest. The documentary follows activists as they expose the true costs of these small nuclear reactor designs that have been opposed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) as well as by several other environmental groups.
As pressure mounts in the US to meet net zero carbon goals, the nuclear power industry makes its case for a nuclear “ renaissance” to solve the climate crisis, in place of the highly costly reactors shut down across many regions of the country, investors began in the early 21st century to promote small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as a technological solution. ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE follows anti-nuclear activist Lloyd Marbet and attorneys Greg Kafoury and Lauren Goldberg as they draw lessons from the decades-long fight to shut down the Trojan Nuclear Power plant in Oregon and expose current campaigns to revive the industry. Climate activist Cathy Sampson-Kruse (Wallulapum member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation) points to the buried legacy of atomic weapons production and nuclear power generation at Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State and its devastating impacts on tribal communities. University of British Columbia professor M. V. Ramana, a physicist and internationally recognized scholar on nuclear power, traces the history of nuclear power generation from the 1950s to the present and takes up four main problems– costs, accidents, waste, and proliferation–and shows how the industry continues to deny or disavow these persisting problems in the much heralded generation of ”new nuclear.” Director Jan Haaken, a psychologist, brings to this history of atomic bamboozling an attentiveness to the psychological ploys of the industry.
With the current rush to fund SMRs at the federal level and pressure from NuScale and other companies in Oregon to overturn state laws restricting nuclear power plants, activists and tribes consulting on the NECESSITY film asked the team to take up the issue and produce this documentary.
THE TEAM
The team behind
ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE
Many team members from the NECESSITY series are carried into ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE as this new documentary grew out of community engagement around the climate crisis.
The director has many years of experience with participatory action filmmaking–a method based on intensive engagement with groups and individuals featured in the documentaries. ATOMIC BAMBOOZLE grew out of consultations with Tribal members and will continue to involve sharing work samples with community advisors.
Jan Haaken (Director)
Jan is professor emeritus of psychology at Portland State University, a clinical psychologist, and documentary
filmmaker. From refugee camps, war zones and abortion clinics to drag bars, dairy farms and hip-hop clubs, her documentary films focus on people carrying out stressful jobs on the social margins and in liminal spaces. Her feature films include Queens of Heart: Community Therapists in Drag, Guilty Except for Insanity, Mind Zone: Therapists Behind the Front Lines, Our Bodies Our Doctors, and the two-part series: Necessity: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance and Necessity: Climate Justice & the Thin Green Line.
Our Bodies Our Doctors won Best Documentary Feature at the 2019 Portland International Film Festival,
and Best of SIFF at the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival, where she also won the Lena Sharpe Award
for Persistence of Vision.
Samantha Praus (Producer)
Samantha (Sam) is a queer, latine documentary filmmaker and researcher based in Portland, OR. Her most
recent projects include the feature-length documentary series Necessity: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance
(Co-director), Necessity: Climate Justice & the Thin Green Line (Co-director), and Our Bodies Our Doctors
(Assistant Director).
Cathy Sampson-Kruse (Associate Producer)
Cathryn Chudy (Associate Producer)
Cathryn is Director of the Oregon Conservancy Foundation and environmental justice activist. She also is a
retired mental health clinician.
Jeremiah Fueres (Editor)
Jeremiah is a director, editor and videographer who provides post-production, live-event and commercial
videography, educational course development and documentary storytelling services. He worked as Creative
Director at REP Interactive, an award winning video marketing and production services agency. REP
Interactive helps companies use video to engage new clients, increase brand equity, and achieve
communication goals.
Nathan Varner (Outreach Coordinator)
Nathan is an aspiring director and student at Portland State University (PSU) studying for a Bachelors of Science in Film and English with a Minor in Business Administration and Writing with plans to transition into PSU's Masters of Education program to teach Secondary Education English. He currently serves as Outreach Coordinator for J Haaken Productions and has worked on production a number of other projects and documentaries as well as for other creators which has amassed over 8 1/2 million views. Nathan can be contacted at outreach@jhaaken.com for inquiries about screening the film.
Haunani Kalama (Impact Strategist)
Haunani’s serves as strategic advisor for the Film’s impact campaign. She has worked with Jan previously as Associate Producer on the Necessity Series bringing more than 30 years of global nonprofit projects supporting climate change mitigation, health equity, nature conservation and Indigenous governance. If you are interested in bringing Atomic Bamboozle’s important message to your community, please complete the Contact form and indicate an interest in partnering with us or send a message to impact@atomicbamboozle.com
Friderike Heuer (Production Photographer)
Friderike Heuer is a member of the Atomic Bamboozle team and an artist with a focus on the natural world, climate change, and civil rights. She has a history in law and psychology and has been working with director Jan Haaken for many years as the production photographer for the Atomic Bamboozle series, as well as previous Haaken films, Milkmen and Our Bodies Our Doctors. On set, she photographs the settings and the crew, and captures the many activists involved in the various fights for a better, more just world.
BEHIND THE SCENES
