Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise

Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise
Directed byMark Cousins
Directed by
Mark Cousins
Using only archive film and a new musical score by the band Mogwai, Mark Cousins presents an impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times – protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima – but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human lives. The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too.
atomic bomb
nuclear power
science
repurposed footage
Last Updated: November 7, 2025


















