25/01/95
A film essay contemplating the moment the world came closest to ending. What day of the week would we have stepped into eternity?
Wednesday 25 January 1995: a Russian radar station detects an unexpected missile launch; all nuclear missiles automatically go on alert. There are 10 minutes until impact. President Yeltsin is pulled out of a meeting and is handed a black briefcase containing the codes for nuclear retaliation. For the first time in history, this briefcase is opened. With just moments to go, Yeltsin gives the green light for retaliation……
Never before had humanity come so close to nuclear annihilation as on that Wednesday in January. But what kind of day would it have been, the day the world came to an end? This film essay circles that unthinkable threshold, tracing the contours of an ending that never came to pass. For to approach the end of the world is, inevitably, to begin telling its story.
Documentary / 20 min/ Theatrical release Docuzone “Kort & Goed” 2004 / EPTAS “Every picture tells a story” Dutch Filmfund 2003.
National Media Museum Bradford International Film Festival 2004 Shine Competition/ Dutch Filmfestival 2003
Crew: Camera Rob Hodselmans, Sound Eddy de Cloe, Mix Jeroen Goeijers, Editor Jonathan Mechanicus, Producers Marc Bary & Erik Schut. Supported by the Dutch National Film Fund, Produced by IJswater Films.