Pripyat

Five kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant lies the city of Pripyat. 50,000 people lived here until 1986. Today, Pripyat is a heavily contaminated ghost town, heavily guarded by the militia, in the heart of the radioactively contaminated zone that extends from the Ukraine deep into Belarus. Most of the villages have been evacuated. Anyone wishing to enter the zone needs special permits, and anyone wishing to leave it is subjected to a dosimetric check. Barbed wire surrounds the 30-kilometer-zone. PRIPYAT is about survival in an improvised microcosm in which one should not eat, not drink, and not breathe in dust when it’s windy – but since radioactivity is imperceptible to the human senses, hardly anyone adheres to these recommendations.

“Even if this film does not make a clear statement at first glance, it can be understood as a subtle contribution to the ongoing nuclear energy debate.” ARSENAL BERLIN