The Atomic Cafe

Mar 17, 1982

1h 26m

★ 7.3

A hot spot in a cold war.

Overview

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

The Archives Project

The Atomic Cafe Trailers

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Harry S. Truman

Self (archive footage)

Lyndon B. Johnson

Self (archive footage)

Nikita Khrushchev

Self (archive footage)

Lewis Strauss

Self (archive footage)

Julius Rosenberg

Self (archive footage)

Ethel Rosenberg

Self (archive footage)

Paul Tibbets

Self (archive footage)

Lloyd Bentsen

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.

8.0

De Gaulle, la bombe à tout prix !

Sep 11, 2025

No overview available.

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8.0

A Hero's Death

Aug 8, 2001

It was the biggest escape in the history of the Berlin Wall: in one historic night of October 1964, 57 East-Berliners try their luck through a tunnel into West Berlin. Just before the last few reach the other side, the East German border guards notice the escape and open fire. Remarkably, all the refugees and their escape agents make it out of the tunnel unscathed, but one border guard is dead: 21-year-old officer Egon Schultz.

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0.0

Crisis en el Caribe (Noticiero ICAIC)

Jan 1, 1962

No overview available.

8.0

The Rosenbergs: Atomic Spies

Feb 8, 2025

Based on testimony by Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, the Rosenbergs are arrested by the FBI. The couple is accused of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the USSR. Though the Rosenbergs maintain their innocence from the start, the media and public opinion seem to have condemned them from day one. The trial does nothing to change this and ends in a death sentence. On Friday June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed in the electric chair. Julius first, then Ethel. 30 years later, the truth finally comes out. Declassified FBI archives reveal that Ethel was not guilty of being a spy; she was merely married to one. Julius did indeed commit espionage for the Soviet Union, though primarily as a recruiter, nothing at all like the fictional James Bond. This documentary, made entirely of archival footage and animated illustrations, offers a tale of espionage as well as a complex family tragedy.

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0.0

Behind the Screens, Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial

Jan 1, 2000

Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. Behind the Screens explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Behind the Screens presents an accessible argument designed for school and college-age audiences-- precisely the demographic most prized by both Hollywood studios and advertisers alike. It features examples drawn from movies such as Wayne's World, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Summer of Sam, and Toy Story.

7.4

The Right Stuff

Oct 20, 1983

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.

7.2

Red Shadow over the White House

Oct 13, 2024

As the 2024 elections approach, Russian interference in American politics – through spies or agents of influence – is a troubling reality. Vladimir Putin is counting on Donald Trump’s victory to weaken support for Ukraine. Why does Trump almost always support Russia? Is he compromised? During his presidency, did he betray the United States in favor of the Kremlin? And why has the Republican Party shifted its stance toward Russia? Answering these questions means shedding light on a labyrinthine espionage and manipulation operation. Still ongoing, it began forty years ago, during the final years of the Cold War. Back then, Trump was merely a real estate developer, and Putin was a young KGB agent. This operation contains many dark areas, but some hold pieces of the puzzle. A former KGB leader, infiltrated “illegals,” a former Trump advisor, and former senior officials from the CIA and FBI, as well as a former prosecutor, provide testimony. . . . [taken from Nilaya Productions]

0.0

The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft

Oct 10, 2024

In 1995, former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin and ex-CIA Director William Colby collaborated in an unexpected way. They made a video game. The Great Game traces how both men rose to the tops of their fields following World War II, before falling out of favor with their respectives agencies — on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. For Kalugin, a growing discontent with the KGB’s treatment of Russians radicalized him against the institution. Meanwhile William Colby, an OSS operative and the CIA’s man on the ground in Vietnam, was fired by President Ford after testifying before Congress about controversial CIA programs like MKULTRA and CoIntelPro. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, both living on American soil, Colby and Kalugin played themselves in Spycraft, a multi-million dollar game that was among the most advanced of its time — and is now almost entirely forgotten.

6.6

K-19: The Widowmaker

Jul 19, 2002

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

8.0

1968: A Year of War, Turmoil and Beyond

Jul 20, 2018

The Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the May events in France, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Prague Spring, the Chicago riots, the Mexico Summer Olympics, the presidential election of Richard Nixon, the Apollo 8 space mission, the hippies and the Yippies, Bullitt and the living dead. Once upon a time the year 1968.

8.4

The Occupation of the American Mind

Jan 19, 2016

Over the past few years, Israel's ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world—except the United States. This documentary takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S.

10.0

Atrocity Inc.

Oct 7, 2024

In an exclusive new documentary, Max Blumenthal rips the cover off the media deceptions and atrocity hoaxes Israel pushed after October 7 to create political space for its gruesome assault on the Gaza Strip. Blumenthal exposes the US mainstream media's role as a megaphone for the Israeli government, introducing new lies even after their initial ones were debunked. Atrocity Inc raises serious questions about the official narrative of October 7, while revealing how Israel's army has consciously engaged in the same hideous atrocities which it falsely accused Palestinian militants of committing.

6.4

The Good Shepherd

Dec 11, 2006

Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded OSS. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leading him to sacrifice his ideals and eventually his family.

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9.0

Under den gamle Fane

Oct 12, 1932

Dramatization of the time around the first Danish Social Democrats and the Battle of Fælleden. A social blockbuster produced for AOF.

7.6

Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle

Mar 3, 2021

Ben Fogle spends a week living inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, gaining privileged access to the doomed Control Room 4 where the disaster first began to unfold.

8.0

Mirror

Mar 7, 1975

A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.

7.1

Land Without Bread

Dec 1, 1933

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

4.7

Railway Station

Jan 1, 1980

Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.

0.0

Los Alamos: The Beginning

Jan 1, 1982

A documentary composed of historical footage and contemporary interviews from the men and women of Los Alamos, recalling their experiences of the community and the creation of the atomic bomb from the inception of the program in 1943.