As fear of nuclear war mounts, this documentary shows change is possible
“My team produced this film in the hopes of waking up the public, so we don’t sleepwalk into the apocalypse.”
— Jeff Daniels, Director of Television Event
In his final book a few years ago, the late Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level advisor to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in the 1960s, described current U.S. nuclear war planning as a form of “institutionalized madness” that could easily lead to accidental global annihilation.¹
As brutal wars in Ukraine, Gaza, the Middle East, and beyond now raise the risk of nuclear war to even higher levels,² a riveting new documentary about a remarkable TV movie that forced U.S. and Soviet leaders to the negotiating table at the height of the Cold War provides reason for hope.
Television Event, from award-winning filmmaker Jeff Daniels, tells the unlikely and inspiring story of the making of The Day After, a harrowing 1983 TV movie about an apocalyptic nuclear strike on the U.S. that was watched by over 100 million Americans and helped inspire historic arms-control agreements between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Television Event is now available to purchase in a variety of formats. If you’d like to book a public screening of the film, please fill out this form and we’ll get back to you soon.
At once darkly funny and deadly serious, Television Event is an excellent resource for educators and activists looking to raise awareness about the heightening risks of nuclear war and the madness of current nuclear deterrence policy. Ideal for courses that focus on American history, militarism and war, U.S. politics, political communication, cultural studies, media studies, and media production.
Last week the Biden administration announced, for the first time, that it will allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike targets inside Russia, escalating the risk of nuclear war to its highest point in decades.¹ But are the American people paying attention?
That’s precisely the question that motivated award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeff Daniels to produce Television Event, which tells the remarkable story of the making of The Day After, a 1983 TV movie about nuclear war that transfixed the nation and helped bring the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the negotiating table.
“My team produced this film in the hopes of waking up the public, so we don’t sleepwalk into the apocalypse,” Daniels said. “The Day After proved that, however polarized we may be ideologically, we can still come together, inform ourselves, and act to prevent the obscene devastation caused by nuclear weapons.”
Television Event is now available to purchase in a variety of formats. If you’d like to book a public screening of the film, please fill out this form and we’ll be back in touch.
At once darkly funny and deadly serious, Television Event is a superb resource for educators and activists looking to raise awareness about the accelerating threat of nuclear war, the absurdity of current nuclear deterrence policy, and the inspiring history of the anti-nuclear movement. Perfect for courses that examine:
- Politics and pop culture
- U.S. militarism and war
- American mass media
- Media production
- Social change movements
- Television history
- Propaganda and public opinion
1. “The US tests Putin’s nuclear threats in Ukraine,” by Joshua Keating, Vox, Jun 5, 2024
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