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A film about nuclear war "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting".

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Title: A film about nuclear war "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting".
Authors: Fons, Rebecca (AUTHOR) Rebecca.Fons@barbican.org.uk
Source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Jul2026, Vol. 82 Issue 4, p275-278. 4p.
Subjects: Nuclear warfare, Motion picture censorship, Motion pictures, Film criticism, Horror, Broadcasting industry, Documentary films
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
Abstract: Rebecca Fons, the new Head of Cinema at London's Barbican Centre—arguably the largest performing arts complex in Europe—has seen a lot of movies. A film curator, arts administrator, and educator, Fons was previously the director of programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. And before that, she was programming director for FilmScene in Iowa City and also the education director for The Chicago International Film Festival. And before all that, she was programming director at the historic Iowa Theater, in Winterset, Iowa. So, Fons knows movies. In this essay, Fons explains why the scariest movie she ever saw was not a Hollywood blockbuster from the '90s, often referred to as "the golden age for disaster movies." Instead, it's something much less well-known: a 47-minute, black-and-white, pseudo-documentary made decades earlier in Britain that more-or-less immediately disappeared—possibly because those who commissioned it thought the result "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 195217594
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: A film about nuclear war "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting".
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fons%2C+Rebecca%22">Fons, Rebecca</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<i> Rebecca.Fons@barbican.org.uk</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Bulletin+of+the+Atomic+Scientists%22">Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists</searchLink>. Jul2026, Vol. 82 Issue 4, p275-278. 4p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Nuclear+warfare%22">Nuclear warfare</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Motion+picture+censorship%22">Motion picture censorship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Motion+pictures%22">Motion pictures</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Film+criticism%22">Film criticism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Horror%22">Horror</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Broadcasting+industry%22">Broadcasting industry</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Documentary+films%22">Documentary films</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22United+Kingdom%22">United Kingdom</searchLink>
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  Data: Rebecca Fons, the new Head of Cinema at London's Barbican Centre—arguably the largest performing arts complex in Europe—has seen a lot of movies. A film curator, arts administrator, and educator, Fons was previously the director of programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. And before that, she was programming director for FilmScene in Iowa City and also the education director for The Chicago International Film Festival. And before all that, she was programming director at the historic Iowa Theater, in Winterset, Iowa. So, Fons knows movies. In this essay, Fons explains why the scariest movie she ever saw was not a Hollywood blockbuster from the '90s, often referred to as "the golden age for disaster movies." Instead, it's something much less well-known: a 47-minute, black-and-white, pseudo-documentary made decades earlier in Britain that more-or-less immediately disappeared—possibly because those who commissioned it thought the result "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/00963402.2026.2684404
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 4
        StartPage: 275
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Nuclear warfare
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Motion picture censorship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Motion pictures
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      – SubjectFull: Film criticism
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      – SubjectFull: Horror
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      – SubjectFull: Broadcasting industry
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Documentary films
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      – SubjectFull: United Kingdom
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              M: 07
              Text: Jul2026
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              Y: 2026
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