Countdown to Zero [2], a new documentary from Participant Productions, premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival [3] to outstanding reviews. "A politically urgent picture, it will literally scare the breath out of what will certainly be a worldwide audience," wrote the reviewer in Variety [4]. The film includes extensive interviews with Ploughshares Fund's Joe Cirincione [5], pictured here with director Lucy Walker [6] and producer Lawrence Bender [7]. Executive producers also include Bruce Blair [8] and Matt Brown of the Ploughshares-funded Global Zero [9]. In an unforgettable interview, Valerie Plame Wilson [10] (right) describes al Qaeda's efforts to acquire or produce a nuclear weapon. "It's The Bourne Identity [11] meets Dr. Strangelove, [12]" said Cirincione following the screening. "One of the best films about nuclear weapons ever done." Interviewed by Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times [13], director Walker says that she chose to end the film with a sense of hope. "I remember when the Berlin Wall fell and suddenly intractable problems get solved," she says. "I wanted to encourage the public to raise their voice. A breakthrough is closer than we think."
Links
[1] https://ploughshares.org/file/1466
[2] http://www.participantmedia.com/films/coming_soon/countdown_to_zero.php
[3] http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/countdowntozero_sundance2010
[4] http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941986.html?categoryId=2471&cs=1
[5] http://www.ploughshares.org/about-us/joseph-cirincione
[6] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1013671/
[7] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004744/
[8] http://www.ploughshares.org/expert/111
[9] http://www.globalzero.org
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame
[11] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/
[12] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/
[13] http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-walker26-2010jan26,0,867073.story