The story "Oppenheimer" doesn't tell
"First We B*mbed New Mexico" is the story of a Latina cancer survivor catalyzing a movement and exposing one of the largest coverups in American history.
This is one of the most eye-opening episodes of Cinema Scope for KSFR (101.1 FM/KSFR.org) that I’ve ever hosted. It premiered June 7, 2024. Listen to it below — all direct links to the episode:
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Director and Producer Lois Lipman of First We Bombed New Mexico: the story Oppenheimer doesn’t tell
Emmy Award-winning director and producer Lois Lipman’s documentary First We Bombed New Mexico is bringing critical — and very timely — attention to the untold story of the Trinity nuclear bomb. We’re discussing the power of film to impact public policy and what you can do to help bring awareness and partial justice to one of the largest coverups in U.S. history.
Trinity, the world’s first nuclear bomb, was detonated in New Mexico one month before the bombing of Hiroshima.
Thousands of New Mexicans — mostly Hispanic and Native American — were exposed to catastrophic levels of radioactive fallout. They were never warned, never acknowledged and never helped afterward.
Generations of cancers and deaths followed.
The film’s main protagonist is cancer survivor Tina Cordova, who catalyzed the movement to seek compensation for the families impacted by Trinity.
“[New Mexico communities] paid the human cost for Oppenheimer's Trinity bomb. And they need some compensation and health care because they're dying, and it didn't end in 1945. We have tracked five generations of cancer, and it all started with Trinity.
“We are the nuclear origin story, and it hasn't been told.”
— Lois Lipman, Director and Producer of First We Bombed New Mexico
As of a 2010 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, radiation around some homes in the testing area remains at almost 10,000 times what is currently allowed in public areas.
It’s the story Oppenheimer doesn’t tell.
“First We Bombed New Mexico is an urgent and timely exposé of our government’s shocking failure to recompense — or even acknowledge — the victims of the Trinity A bomb, the ‘Downwinders’ who generation after generation have paid with their health and their lives. Lois Lipman’s powerful documentary, fueled by the righteous anger of activist and cancer survivor Tina Cordova, is a revelatory call to action."
— David Ansen, American Film Critic
HOW TO SEE THE FILM
See First We Bombed New Mexico June 7-13, 2024 at the Violet Crown in Santa Fe, before it continues on its festival circuit: https://santafe.violetcrown.com/movie/VC001822.
See the the film website below for global festival info.
MORE INFO
LOIS’S EPISODE FOR CINEMA SCOPE ON KSFR 101.1 FM/KSFR.ORG
https://www.ksfr.org/show/cinemascope
ABOUT LOIS
Lois is an Emmy Award-winning career documentary filmmaker who field produced 24 stories around the world for CBS News 60 Minutes. Her exposé Til Death Do Us Part — Dowry Deaths in India was awarded Best Documentary by American Women in Film and Television and led to system changes in India. Her film about BBC Radio won her an Emmy. While based in London, Lois field produced hour-long documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4-UK and PBS in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Gaza, Israel, India, the Dominican Republic and countries in between.
