Written by on Mar 10, 2010. Posted in Production News

Irish short films in radioactive Pripyat

The unoccupied town of Pripyat in Ukraine has been used for the filming of Irish-funded short The Door, a 17-minute portrayal of one family’s experience of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, which received an Oscar nomination this year.

Pripyat housed the Chernobyl employees and their families in the 1980s and so has been radioactive for nearly 25 years. Government officials regularly monitor the town and director Juanita Wilson had only a few hours after an extensive permit-seeking process to capture the shots she needed with a crew of 30.

Local production services company Esse House Productions provided the crew with special safety suits and boots, while a government supervisor constantly monitored radiation levels. Tanya Neistova, a producer with Esse, said: “We could walk only on the concrete paths, not on the ground. We were lucky that it was winter and there was no dust, which is the main pollution transmitter.”

A government bus provided transport to and from the town. This was used to carry crew, cast and equipment to and from Pripyat. Oleksandr Shcherbyna, Producer General at the Ukraine Film Office, said: “Clothes are checked when you leave. If the clothes are too polluted you will need to drop it at the checkpoint.”