Babushkas of Chernobyl

Feature - 72 min Broadcast - 52 min

A story of three unlikely heroines in the most toxic place on earth

In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl's Reactor a community of old women cling to their ancestral homeland. While their neighbours have long since fled and their husbands gradually died off, this sisterhood of women labour to cultivate land deemed uninhabitable. Ignoring government orders and health warnings, the 'Babushkas of Chernobyl' continue to forge an existence in one of the most toxic environments on earth.

Compelling and surprisingly uplifting, The Babushkas of Chernobyl is a moving portrait of three unlikely heroines; a testament to the strength of solidarity and friendship.

"A beautiful film; captures the subtleties and uncertainties of Chernobyl and, moreover, the resilience of the human soul." - George Johnson, The New York Times

"A haunting and strangely uplifting documentary" - The Hollywood Reporter

"Potent, immersive... incredible depth and access" - IndieWire

"A testimony of love, compassion and solidarity" - Huffington Post

Winner - Special Jury Honor Award for Directing, Los Angeles Film Festival 2015

Winner - Special Jury Award Documentary, Woodstock Film Festival 2015

Official Selection - Doc NYC, 2015

Winner - Best Editing, Woodstock Film Festival 2015

Winner - One in a Million Award, Sun Valley Film Festival 2015

Winner - Audience Award, Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam 2015

Winner - Audience Award for Best Film, Salem Film Festival 2016

Winner - Special Jury Award, Salem Film Festival 2016

Winner - Audience Award for Best Film, Denver Film Festival 2016

Winner - Best Documentary, Santa Fe Independent Film Festival 2015

Winner - Audience Award, International Female Film Festival Malmo 2016

Winner - Audience Award for Best Documentary, Florida Film Festival 2016

Winner - Audience Award, San Fransisco Green Film Festival 2016

Director/producer Holly Morris' TED Talk on the Babushkas of Chernobyl
Babushkas of Chernobyl featured in The Guardian
The New York Times Science special
The New York Times Women In The World feature.
OFFICIAL PRESS KIT
WATCH MORE
LEARN MORE
JOIN THE DISCUSSION

CountryUkraine
Running Time72:00
Date1 Oct, 2015
ProducerPowderKeg
OriginalHD
Ref No6579

TRANSCRIPT

The Producers

Holly Morris (Director, Producer) makes films that explore the lives of risk-taking, contemporary women around the globe. Her award-winning & widely syndicated journalism on the Babushkas of Chernobyl (2011), also published as A Country of Women, and The Women Living in Chernobyl's Toxic Wasteland and The Best Travel Writing; Travelers Tales reported on the women of the Zone and is also the subject of her popular TED Talk. She’s the author of Adventure Divas: Searching the Globe for a New Kind of Heroine (Random House), a New York Times Notable book about exploration. Morris has filmed in more than 20 countries, and is a longtime presenter for the PBS series Globe Trekker.

Making The Film

Holly Morris first went to Chernobyl in 2010 to cover the 25th anniversary of the accident for a travel program. She spent 2 days filming at Chernobyl Power Plant’s Reactor #4 and in the ghost city of Pripyat. Holly returned 2 months later for MORE magazine, to write her award-winning essay, and widely syndicated (The London Daily Telegraph, the Independent, The Week, CNN.com) essay “The Babushkas of Chernobyl” (also published as Ukraine: A Country of Women.), which is the subject of this film and also of Morris' TED Talk on the women of Chernobyl's Dead Zone which received over a million views. She became fascinated with this community of approximately 100 returnees. Clearly there was a deeper story around these fierce, independent older women, and their ability to survive under such extraordinary, toxic conditions.

Babushkas of Chernobyl

A story of three unlikely heroines in the most toxic place on earth

The Producers

Making The Film

OTHER FILMS YOU MAY LIKE

FEATURED FILMS