Up On The Hill

ABOUT THE FILM

“Up On The Hill” will be an engaging, moving, highly informative, and fast-paced documentary, that will expose the truths behind the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). We intend for the film to go viral, because the more people who know about these issues, the more chance we have of evolving out of the madness of the Atomic Age. 

The issues addressed will include the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on weapons production, the profiteering of the private corporation that runs the laboratory, the stark reality of the radioactive and chemical pollution that continues to contaminate the surrounding air, land and water, the grave health consequences affecting the local communities, and the contamination of the water supply of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The film will include interviews with some of the leading experts and activists in the field, including Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and Jay Coghlan of Nuke Watch New Mexico, as well as elders of the neighboring Native American pueblos, and others whose lives have been deeply impacted by LANL. 

“Up On The Hill” will be beautifully filmed in some of the most stunning landscapes in New Mexico. This land will reveal its own story — from the scars of the fires that came perilously close to LANL, to the tainted Rio Grande river, and the forgotten Native American lands.

OUR STORY

We are Angelie Gamboa and Thomas Jaggers. Together we are Monkey Wrench Productions LLC. Angelie is a film-maker and producer, and Thomas is a producer, writer, and social activist. 

We live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, just a few miles from Los Alamos National Laboratory — the birthplace of nuclear weapons. LANL was created in 1943 as the home of the Manhattan Project, and there scientists created the world's first atomic bombs. The notorious "Fat Man" and “Little Boy" were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, killing up to one quarter of a million people. 

Last year we learned what a threat the work at LANL still presents, both to the local community and to the rest of the world. Even now, 69 years after the Manhattan Project, LANL is still in the business of making nuclear weapons of mass destruction. The U.S.A. maintains a stockpile of over 5,000 nuclear bombs and warheads — most of them designed by scientists at LANL, and many of them hundreds of times larger than those that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

The cost of this work is immense. In 2012 LANL will receive $2.4 billion, of which $1.6 billion will be spent on nuclear weapons production. All of that money comes from the Federal taxpayer.

As if this in itself is not bad enough, LANL is now run by a private partnership between the University of California and Bechtel Corporation. Bechtel is infamous as the company involved in the attempted privatization of water in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and as the builder of the proposed Keystone pipeline. For running LANL in 2012, U.C. and Bechtel will receive $83 million of pure profit. 

As shocking as this is, the money is relatively unimportant compared to the pollution and health impacts caused by the work at LANL. Radioactive and chemical pollution has spilled, almost uncontrolled, into the surrounding air, land, and water for 69 years, poisoning the local communities and Native American pueblos.

And now the City of Santa Fe is taking water from the Rio Grande right below the site of the laboratory, endangering the health of all who drink Santa Fe's water. 

We want to see an end to the corporate profiteering from war. We want to see those billions of taxpayer dollars, and all the scientific brilliance at LANL, redirected towards life-affirming science and technology and renewable energy sources. We want to see the pollution cleaned up. We want to see our communities' health restored. And most of all we want to see a world free of nuclear weapons. 

WHAT WE NEED

While we wish that we had more time to produce this film, time is not what we have. We must complete the extensive research and interviews, film on location with cameras and crew, catalog the footage and back-up to hard drives, compose the original music, edit the footage, mix the audio, do the color grading, and create a blazing story and powerful documentary by August 6th. August 6th is Hiroshima Day, the day when thousands of citizens and activists around the world come together to remember the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and commemorate all those who died there. The day when we can send a powerful message around the world — that we want a world free of nuclear weapons.

We have started our research phase and have already begun filming. So far we have paid for everything out of our own pockets. However, there is much more work to be done and and we cannot complete this project without funding. We have to research and fact-check all of the information; we have to conduct interviews and write the final script; we have to pay our camera and sound crew; we need hard drives, because we have to make sure that our high quality footage is stored; we have to review and edit all of our footage; we have to compose the original music score to support the images and interviews; we have to create our website and stay on top of our Social Media and Marketing efforts, in order to get out the word and make sure that the “conversation” keeps going—around the world; and we have to ensure the HD video is uploaded to platforms across the web and also burned on DVD/BluRay, so that anyone who wants to purchase a copy can get one.

Every cent we raise will be used well in service of this production. And we will give much more in time —in long hours shooting footage, editing, writing and composing — and in energy, creativity, and effort, because we so deeply believe in this film and the story that has to be told. 

So please give what you can. 

We also need your help to spread the word, so please help us by joining our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, and sharing this with others. In order to make a big impact and to reach a larger audience, we need you. Please help us in whatever way that you can. In return, you will receive our deepest thanks and you will help contribute to a more peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons. 

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-Watch more trailers, keep up with our production crew, get more information and learn about our events on our web site www.UpOnTheHillFilm.com