18 Feb 2013

French film about nuclear testing wins Tahiti film festival

4:41 am on 18 February 2013

The French film, Aux enfants de la bombe, has won the top prize at the Pacific International Documentary Film Festival in French Polynesia.

The documentary by Christine Bonnet and Jean-Philippe Desbordes is based on footage and journals by an engineer of the French Atomic Energy Commission, Bernard Ista.

He had chronicled the weapons testing regime over 35 years and noted the local people's exposure compared to the relative protection afforded to the military.

The head of the film jury says France has to have the courage to recognise this crime committed by the state.