Dark circle

Dark Circle was aired as part of “P.O.V.”, a showcase for independently-produced documentaries which is broadcast nationally on PBS. Each of the films in the series were selected from more than 350 submitted in response to an open call for entries, and each reflects the individual filmmaker’s point of view. This film, DARK CIRLCE, had a controversial history. In 1986, it was accepted for broadcast on public television and then rejected. Two months before it aired on P.O.V., one of the subjects of the film—Rocky Flats Nuclear Power Plant—became the subject of major national news stories. This program attracted intense interest, from both press and viewers. The bomb is killing ordinary Americans, even in the absence of a nuclear war. That’s the thesis of this chilling—but ultimately hopeful—film which explores in evocative, personal and immediate terms how all of us have been affected by the nuclear age. Denounced by officials and shunned by broadcasters when it was first released, many of the issues it raised have become today’s front-page headlines.