“Pandora’s Promise,” a documentary directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison alumnus Robert Stone, will air on CNN Films Thursday.
Stone graduated from UW-Madison in 1980 and has since made numerous critically acclaimed films.
His most recent film focuses on the essential role of nuclear power as a way to simultaneously address the world’s increasing energy needs and climate change, Stone said.
He said he made the film in response to his mounting concern that, for the past 25 years, the environmental movement has not succeeded in resolving the dilemmas of a changing climate.
“It’s a very hopeful film,” Stone said. “It does demonstrate that we can actually solve this problem in a way that’s realistic and viable.”
He said his films aim to demystify nuclear energy and convince people to embrace it as a means of escaping a global “climate catastrophe.”
Stone followed the personal journeys of several scientists who were formerly anti-nuclear power but had changed their minds on the issue.
Noting he did not always support nuclear energy, Stone said his goal was not to appeal to those already in favor of its use but to persuade the opposition.
“It’s already having an effect in changing the conversation, opening people’s minds to this, particularly young people,” he said. “They see technology as something that offers tangible solutions.”
Over three years, Stone travelled to four continents and visited nuclear reactors including Fukushima and Three Mile Island. He is the only filmmaker to have ever gone inside the Chernobyl reactor, he said.
“Pandora’s Promise” will be screened on CNN at 8 and 10 p.m. Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday.
