The Oscar-winning® documentary ‘Chernobyl Heart’, inspired by and prominently featuring the work of Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children’s Project International (CCPI), will receive it’s Irish premiere in the IFI as part of the Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Festival & Market on October 2nd, 2004.
Director Maryann De Leo took her camera to ground zero in Chernobyl; following the devastating trail radiation leaves behind in hospitals, orphanages, mental asylums and evacuated villages. The film looks at those hardest hit by radiation, thyroid cancer patients and children suffering from congenital birth and heart defects.
The European premiere screening of the documentary will be introduced by the Director, Maryann De Leo. A short question and answer session will be held afterwards with, Adi Roche, Ali Hewson and Maryann DeLeo. Many well-known friends of the charity will attend the premiere and the Oscar® won by Maryann De Leo will also be present.
The film is named after a condition known throughout the Chernobyl-affected regions as "Chernobyl Heart," a condition that is now alarmingly prevalent throughout the Chernobyl Zone. Over 7,000 children are currently awaiting treatment for this life-threatening condition. Some of the other statistics revealed in the documentary include:
• Only 20% of babies are born healthy in Belarus
• Infant mortality is 300% higher than Europe
• 250% increase in birth defects since Chernobyl
Tickets are available to the public from the IFI box office (01) 679-3477
For further information please check: www.irishfilm.ie
