Onkalo is Finnish for 'cavern' or 'hiding place', depending on the source, but both are relevant to this frightening look at Onkalo, the first permanent nuclear waste repository currently under construction on Olkiluoto Island in the Bay of Bothnia, Finland. The repository, once completed in 2020, is intended to accept radioactive waste until 2120, and hold it 'permanently', which in this case means 100 000 years, the minimum time radioactive waste is believed to be active. Director Michael Madsen illuminates the ludicrous notion of permanence on this mutable and volatile earth of ours, particularly with something so dangerous and relatively unknown, as well as skewers the idea of absolute knowledge and communication in his spare interviews with the current brains in charge of this monstrous project.

SCREENINGS:

• Fri, Oct 8th 1:50pm @ Empire Granville 7 Th 2
• Sat, Oct 9th 9:30pm @ Vancity Theatre