In preparation for tomorrow's session, here are David McMillan's photos of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Not surprisingly, the name of the Zone of Alienation is itself derived from the science fiction novel Roadside Picnic (1977) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, on which Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) is based.
While much of the photography of Chernobyl follows predictable patterns of aftermath aesthetics (a single abandoned plimsoll or weeds sprouting in cracked buildings), the circle of references was neatly completed in 2007 when a Ukrainian company made an FPS computer game called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, using digitised photos of the zone.
1 comment:
I wonder if you mentioned in your discussions the film by Nikolaus Geyrhalter of people living in the Chernobyl Zone in the mid-90s. A few old people left, and that's it, really, but what they have to say is amazing. They didn't force them to leave, and they eat radioactive food, but if you're old you might a) survive, because cancer and old age will rival each other and b) possibly, it's not as dangerous as people thought. The film is called Pripyat and is well worth seeing after Stalker.
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