Radiophobia

On April 26, 1986, a security test at Chernobyl’s nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union, triggered the greatest civilian nuclear catastrophe in history. Unable to cope with this political, environmental and human disaster, the Soviets built a wall of silence around the event. The term ‘radiophobia’ came to define the symptoms of the people suffering from the fallout of the radiation, some kind of social ‘stigma.’ Radiophobia is a touching documentary entirely shot in Chernobyl’s “Forbidden Zone”. This documentary examines the Chernobyl disaster and its consequences 20 years later from the perspective of a group of survivors and people who were on duty at the reactor on the fateful night. This is the first time that they have returned to the ‘Zone’ to reconcile their past with the ruins of the present. Inside the ‘Zone’ we also meet many of the peculiar inhabitants who never left this highly radioactive and somewhat surreal area.