Radio Bikini

In 1945, the detonation of atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the Second World War. A year later, world attention focused in another island in the Pacific—Bikini. While the United Nations debated strategies for the control of atomic energy, the U.S. navy was preparing to stage two highly-publicized nuclear tests—code-named “Operation Crossroads”—to formally present the atomic bomb to a wondering world. The Navy saw “Operation Crossroads” as a public relations coup. Here was an opportunity to justify building an atomic arsenal in preserve the peace. Officials planned to make a major propaganda film about the tests. Seven hundred and fifty cameras were shipped to Bikini, along with 18 tons of motion picture film—said to be half the world’s supply of film. Bikinians themselves had no say about the decision to turn their idyllic island into an atomic test site; they had no idea but 40 years later their home would to bee contaminated to support human life. Radio Bikini is not just the story of “Operation Crossroads”, but also a portrait of an exuberant and naïve world unprepared for the responsibilities of the Nuclear Age. Experienced cameraman and director Robert Stone produced and directed this Academy Award-nominated film, using formerly classified government footage, newsreels, and the compelling testimony of two witnesses to tell the story of America’s first public atomic bomb tests