The Babushkas of Chernobyl,
Holly Morris, Anne Bogart, 2015, 70 min

Sweet elderly Ukrainian women pick berries and eat mushrooms as researchers look on in horror. That food contains far too high levels of radiation! The babushkas are a remarkable phenomenon. Risking their own health, they have continued to live within the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, but it now turns out that they are living longer and healthier than their former neighbours who were evacuated after the disaster. Instead of offering any explanation, the film paints an intriguing picture of the curious lives of those who populate the exclusion zone — babushkas, Stalker gamers, medical scientists and military engineers. The zone has a regime and access system all of its own, which is well presented in the film. Life within the zone will be controlled and planned for centuries to come.

The Babushkas of Chernobyl is part of 'The Five Films That Moved You', the online film programme to celebrate AFFR 25 Years!