''Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang'' is a 1979 political documentary film produced and directed by Jack Willis and

Saul Landau Saul Landau (January 15, 1936 – September 9, 2013) was an American journalist, filmmaker and commentator. He was also a professor emeritus at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he taught history and digital media. Educa ...

, written by Jack Willis and Penny Bernstein, narrated by Penny Bernstein with cinematography by Zack Krieger and Haskell Wexler. Photographed by Sandi Sissel. The focus of the film is the government cover-up of the health hazards related to the 1950s atomic bomb testing in Nevada. Paul Jacobs, a journalist, activist and co-founder of the magazine '' Mother Jones,'' investigated the results of the tests on unknowing civilians and soldiers used as guinea pigs. Jacobs died of lung cancer before the film was completed; his doctors believed he contracted cancer as a result of radiation exposure. The film was shown on PBS in the United States and widely distributed on television and theatrically in Europe. It was censored by Swedish Television during the time of a referendum on nuclear energy in Sweden. The film won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

(1980), George Polk Award for investigative journalism on TV,

Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effor ...

, and Best Documentary at the

Mannheim Film Festival The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (german: Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cit ...

. 1979 Mannheim Film Festival Awards

References

External links

Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang at Link TV
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1980 films American documentary films Documentary films about nuclear war and weapons 1980 documentary films Films about activists 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{poli-documentary-film-stub