After spending two years travelling the world, documenting communities effected by nuclear weapons testing for our feature length documentary, 'Our Planet, The People, My Blood', we were left with a plethora of first hand accounts and truly exceptional stories that we could explore. 

The recurring theme for me through all these stories was the incredible sense of injustice that all these people had suffered at the hands of each of their governments. To choose just one of these stories to represent was almost impossible, so this film became more about a representing this plight through a personal and common theme, that a western audience could relate to the most.

Eventually we settled on the concept of conscription. During the 40's, 50's and 60's, thousands of soldiers from multiple countries were conscripted into the armed forces as part of the national drafts. Those who were then posted to missions for nuclear weapons testing, were intentionally put into harms way, through no choice of their own.

From our accounts, we found one soldiers story that would help shape our narrative.

A soldier, that will remain unnamed for the families sake, tragically killed himself after witnessing the devastating force of the bomb. This was not an isolated case, and in addition to the plethora of cancers and disease that was caused by these tests, many suffered from terrible PTSD.

The impact on the individual soldiers themselves, is now something that is well documented (even if many governments still deny wrong doing), however the impact both directly and indirectly on the families of these soldiers, is still something that is mostly overlooked.

The impact it had physically on these people was genetic, and has and will have impacts on generations of these families for at least the next 500 years... However, the indirect impact of mental anguish on entire family units, we felt was something that was more relatable for an audience. The effects on families from all areas of the military can be incredibly stressful and painful to endure. Those who were subject to nuclear testing, were no different, even in spite of not seeing active combat.

This project was pulled together through pure passion, with a tiny budget and no funding from outside sources. The story and plight of these people resonated with our cast and crew, creating a beautiful passion and drive on set that was a hugely refreshing experience for me as a director! 

In combination with this piece being a stand alone short for festival exhibition, this also acts as a pitch for our feature length script currently in development, 'Bomb's Gone'.