Heidi Hutner, an associate professor of Ecofeminism and Environmental Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of English, will premiere her feature-length documentary film, RADIOACTIVE: The Women of Three Mile Island, at the Dances with Films independent film festival December 4 in New York City.
Hutner produced, wrote and co-directed the documentary, which focuses on people directly affected by the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident — four concerned mothers who worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of their families, a two-woman legal team who took their battle for the rights of area residents to the Supreme Court, a local doctor who maintains many of her patients may be sick because of the accident, a scientist who has initiated a new study regarding the impact of the meltdown on the health of the community, and a reporter who remembers the confusing information reporters received.
The film re-examines the official claim by government and company officials that the accident — the worst commercial nuclear reactor meltdown in U.S. history — caused no injuries or deaths.
From the film’s website: “Though this disaster took place in 1979, the life and death implications continue in the spiritual, physical, and political DNA of the community, its residents, and their descendants.”
Hutner is also an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and a scholar of Environmental Humanities, chaired Stony Brook University’s Sustainability Studies program for six years, and was an associate dean for the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. She has been working on, teaching and writing about nuclear issues from a feminist and ecofeminist standpoint for 20 years.
“My work stems from my learning of my mother’s advocacy work with “Women Strike For Peace” in the 1960s,” Hutner said. “Cofounded by Bella Abzug, Women Strike For Peace has been credited for the signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that was put into effect in 1963. This was signed on by the US, UK, and the USSR. The treaty put an end to atmospheric bomb testing in these countries — what a remarkable feat! It wasn’t until after my mother’s death that I learned of her bravery and advocacy, and that led me to seek out more women’s stories — in the sphere of women and anti-nuclear and environmental activism, women and science, and the disproportionate harm of ionizing radiation on women and nonwhite communities.”
The film’s premiere will be held at 3:30 pm at the Regal Union Square theater in Manhattan, and a Q&A session with Hutner will follow. Buy tickets to the premiere online.
The film is co-directed by Martjin Hart and edited and produced by Simeon Hutner.
Heidi Hutner is a very good producer and director. She is also a very kind person. I am a Three Mile Island survivor. I lived within 2 miles of TMI when we had the partial meltdown at TMI. I met Heidi and her videographer Martijn Hart when they came to TMI to interview and film the 4 women and mothers in the film, Radioactive:The Women of TMI. I was interviewed by Heidi and filmed by Martijn as well. I shared my story with Heidi and Martijn about how I and so many others had a metallic taste in our mouths when radioactive ☢️ gases were released into our atmosphere. I told them about my hair falling out a few months after the nuclear accident at TMI. I also told them about seeing and waving to President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn Carter when they came to my small town of Middletown, PA. Middletown, PA wasn’t a place well known before the nuclear accident at TMI. We made the map after the accident at TMI. Reporters from all over the world came to our small town. We were told to go into our houses and to close our doors and windows. A lot of families left my town Middletown, PA and the surrounding areas, but we could not leave Middletown, PA due to car problems. We definitely were prepared to die that night. Middletown, PA was a ghost town then. My cousin Robert Reid was the mayor of Middletown, PA then and did his best to calm the community. Heidi and Martijn shot a lot of footage and interviewed a lot of people. She interviewed me as well down at the TMI nuclear power plant and at a TMI Survivors event as well. I am so glad that she and Martijn produced Radioactive:The Women of TMI and that it will be on the big screen and Netflix soon. We have a very large cluster of cancer cases in Middletown, PA and the surrounding areas. So many people, who lived in Middletown, PA or the surrounding areas during the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island, are being diagnosed with all kinds of latent cancers and are surviving or dying from their latent cancers. There are neurological disorders as well. The list goes on. There was certainly a big cover-up and the nuclear accident at TMI was much worse. Heidi Hutner and Martijn Hart will certainly show that it was much worse. I was interviewed by editors from a magazine. I will be on the cover of the magazine and featured in the magazine as well soon. I told the editors about the TMI nuclear accident and the cover-up.
Maria Frisby- Former Ms. Pennsylvania 2004
When will I be able to stream this movie?
Or see it in a theater?