The film “Richland” is showing from 4:30 p.m. onwards Feb. 8 at the Compton Union Building Auditorium.
Presented by the Roots of Contemporary Issues program and Department of History, “Richland” is a documentary about the legacy of the atomic bomb in Washington communities like Richland, said Kathleen Whalen, RCI program assistant director. “Richland” also covers the Manhattan Project and the geopolitics ingrained in the Cold War.
“We can’t understand [Richland] unless we examine the deeper past,” Whalen said.
The RCI program has planned an event series with a regional focus, with the “Richland” showing being one part of this series, Whalen said.
The RCI program is planning events like panel discussions of Indigenous history on the Palouse and another future event based on the overlooked history of Seattle.
“This film is interdisciplinary in the sense that it will draw people interested in history and science as well as those who care about community, identity and place,” Whalen said.
The mushroom cloud painted inside of Richland High School and their mascot the “Bombers” could point out a cultural manifestation for Richland, Whalen said.
The film is focused on pointing out these facts and understanding the impacts of bomb building and the tremendous global impacts that it carried, Whalen said.
Whalen said that one of filmmaker Irene Lusztig’s most significant resources while making “Richland” was Robert Franklin, WSU history professor, RCI program coordinator and Hanford History Project archivist.
Franklin served as a consultant for Lusztig as she carried out her research on Hanford, Whalen said. Franklin provided Lusztig with archival resources like visuals and acquainted her with the community.
A discussion at the end of the viewing will allow the audience to ask Lusztig questions, which Franklin will mediate.
“The RCI program and the Department of History hope to open conversations both in WSU and in our communities about the ways that the past informs the present,” RCI program director Ashley Wright said.
