On April 17th, Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut will be hosting a screening of Chornobyl 22, a film by Oleksiy Radynski (6:00–8:00pm). Radynski is a researcher of ecological warfare and nuclear terrorism at The Reckoning Project, and his work is particularly relevant in the context of the war in Ukraine. Following the screening, there will be a discussion with the director.
Oleksiy Radynski is an artist and writer based in Kyiv in Ukraine. As a filmmaker, Radynski works within the framework of documentary cinema— his recent film, entitled Chornobyl 22, reflects upon the occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone that Russian Armed Forces captured on 24 February 2022, the very first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian army, having invaded Ukraine from neighboring Belarus, seized the entire area of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant by the end of that same day. Radynski’s film includes footage shot clandestinely within the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station to convey the precarious military takeover of the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, which took place in 1986
Chornobyl 22 has received multiple awards, including the Grand Prix at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in 2023. The historic recollections of trauma and death resulting from that first nuclear disaster meet with present-day concerns about the destruction of habitat and nature that Russia’s military continues to effect across Ukraine. This includes the collapse of the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, which held back one of the largest reservoirs of water in Europe, and the continuing threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the Russian Armed Forces. The precarity of these occupations makes the threat of pollutants, toxins, and nuclear contamination extending beyond the territory of Ukraine a reality. The confrontation with these realities has provoked Radynski to extend his practice of critical production and his role as artist into the realm of political and environmental justice.
Pre-event screening Infinity: According to Florian (2022) will be held there as well (4:30– 5:30pm). Radynski’s film explores the life of the legendary figure, Kyiv based architect and artist Florian Yuriev, who explored the potential of color, light and sound within his design of buildings. The film focuses on the iconic Kyiv concert hall to reflect on Yuriev’s radical 1971 design of the Institute of Information, which resembles a flying saucer. The camera turns to Yuriev, who elaborates his own vision around the “synthesis of the arts” in a project he refers to as light music theater, which he intends as a platform for the development of a new artistic discipline called the “music of color.”
Screening will be followed by a discussion with the film director Oleksiy Radynski, James Silk, Director of the Law School’s Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, and Marta Kuzma, Professor of the Yale School of Art. Professor Silk's team analyzed the testimonies of the occupation of the Chornobyl zone, collected by Oleksiy Radinsky within The Reckoning Project, and their findings were handed over by The Reckoning Project to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Place: Loria Center Auditorium 190 York St, Yale University, New Haven, CT
The event is organized by Yale University. The visit is partially supported by USAID - US Agency for International Development within the framework of the project "Human Rights in Action", which is implemented by the Ukrainian Helsinki Union on Human Rights - UHHRU.