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SLIFF 2017 Interview: Rebecca Cammisa – Director of ATOMIC HOMEFRONT – We Are Movie Geeks

Interview

SLIFF 2017 Interview: Rebecca Cammisa – Director of ATOMIC HOMEFRONT

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ATOMIC HOMEFRONT screens Saturday, November 11th at 3:00pm at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Director Marc Meyers will be in attendance. Ticket information can be found HERE.

St. Louis has a little-known nuclear past as a uranium-processing center for the atomic bomb. Government and corporate negligence led to the dumping of Manhattan Project uranium, thorium, and radium, thus contaminating North St. Louis suburbs, specifically in two areas: the communities along Coldwater Creek, where residents have high rates of very rare cancers, birth defects, and various autoimmune disorders; and in Bridgeton, adjacent to the West Lake-Bridgeton landfill, where an uncontrolled subsurface fire has been moving toward an area where the radioactive waste was buried. Just Moms STL, a group of mothers-turned-advocates, believes their communities are being poisoned and demands that the government either fully remove the waste or permanently relocate residents living nearest the landfill. At the same time, the grassroots organization Coldwater Creek — Just the Facts Please is working to educate the community and healthcare professionals and to promote community inclusion in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. ATOMIC HOMEFRONT — from HBO Documentary Films — spotlights these engaged citizen advocates.


ATOMIC HOMEFRONT director Rebecca Cammisa took the time to talk with We Are Movie Geeks before the screening of her film at The St. Louis International Film Festival.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman October 25th 2017

Tom Stockman: What inspired you to make this film about the nuclear waste problem here in Missouri?

Rebecca Cammisa: I can’t say that inspiration is really the proper word. When I got there I tried to learn if there was a problem and what the problem was, and if what people were claiming was true. A lot of the time with making our film was going back-and-forth between Coldwater Creek communities and The Bridgeton landfill communities and to try to understand the dynamic of what took place in the past and what was happening presently. Once we started to understand, and to get more involved, that’s when the inspiration came. We understood that people were really suffering with this and struggling while trying to get to the truth.

TS: How did you hear about this issue?

RC: I heard about it from a geologist who was familiar with the situation at the landfill.

TS: How much time did you spend in the St. Louis area making this film?

RC: We were there collectively about eight months. It was initially a six month stretch, and then several weeks going back-and-forth.

TS: There was another film about this subject, THE SAFE SIDE OF THE FENCE by Tony West. I think it would make an interesting companion piece to your film. It was more the history of Mallinckrodt, with much archival footage. Your film is more the human side of the result.

RC: Yes, the thrust of our film is a look at the current situation, the current ongoing toxicity that these residents are fighting.

TS: Did you reach out to representatives of Mallinckrodt?

RC: Our film was never really about Mallinckrodt. We were able to build Mallinckrodt’s presence without their input. None of these companies or federal agencies would speak to us so we have a long list of those who refuse to go on camera. But we never even approached Mallinckrodt, because we never really got into their role that deeply. We really focused on the present fight.


TS: When was this filmed?

RC: We started filming in August 2014 and finished November 2015.

TS: Have you been traveling to a lot of film festivals with ATOMIC HOMEFRONT?

RC: Yes, the film just played in Santa Fe, Hot Springs Arkansas, West Virginia, Boston, and elsewhere. It played in Denver, which is important because Denver is struggling with plutonium poisoning. We’re about to start our theatrical run this week in Los Angeles, then in New York a couple of weeks after that.

TS: How has your film been received so far?

RC: I think people are shocked, This is an under-reported story. When people see the film, they assume that this is a St. Louis problem and it’s not. It’s a problem shared by many communities throughout the nation so I think this film is going to make people aware. For example, we are now in Los Angeles and we just had a screening for the International Documentary Association. In California next month, Southern California Edison is planning on burying 1,800 tons of high-level radioactive waste on a beach. There’s a community of people trying to stop that from happening. Wherever we go, there’s a radioactive issue. When we take the film around, we try to localize it for the communities where it’s being played.


TS: What was your filmmaking background before you started this project?

RC: I had made six previous documentaries, and one short narrative.

 TS: Would you like to break out of the documentary genre and move more towards narrative?

RC: I would be interested in narrative filmmaking if the story itself was important and pertinent.

TS: Where did you grow up?

RC: I’m from upstate New York

TS: When did you begin to realize you wanted to be involved in filmmaking?

RC: I was exposed to film a young age. I remember wanting to make movies when I saw PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK when I was 7 or 8. I didn’t go to film school though. I didn’t make that a career goal. I became a photographer and transitioned from photography to filmmaking, so it just happened naturally.

TS: Who are some documentary filmmakers that have inspired you? There are a lot of them.

RC: Frederick Wiseman certainly. Stanley Nelson is an incredible documentary filmmaker, an amazing storyteller. There are so many whose films I grew up watching that have inspired me.


TS: Did you enjoy your time in St. Louis when you were here filming?

RC:  I loved St. Louis. Any opportunity to go back there, I would take it. We came into people’s lives there when it was the worst time of their lives, and they were so generous to us, and they really trusted us. The people I have met there have been graceful under pressure and still are. It was an honor to have spent time in St. Louis.

TS: What’s your next project?

RC: I have a couple of ideas that I’m looking at, and I’ve been offered some opportunities, but because ATOMIC HOMEFRONT looks at just the tip of the iceberg of this problem, we have been heavily focused on outreach, trying to connect with the community and trying to understand their issues. That takes a lot of time and that’s what I’m focused on now