Black Triangle

Winner of First Prize,
Riena Film Festival
(1990, France)

Production Co: Cinecontact, Central TV

Producer: Ron Orders

Director: Nick Davidson

Year: 1989

Genre: Documentary

Region: Czechoslovakia, Germany

Duration: 55'

Language: English

Looks at the legacy of 40 years of totalitarian rule and unregulated industrial development on the environment in Eastern Europe.  The border region between Czechoslovakia and East Germany known as the Black Triangle is one of the most polluted, environmentally devastated areas in the world.  To the south, in Czechoslovakia, coal mines dominate the countryside, swallowing up villages.  Sulphurous smoke from the ubiquitous power stations results in regular smog alerts; the health of the people and the landscape are threatened by the soot from brown lignite coal deposits.  On the other side of the border, in East Germany, lies Europe’s biggest concentration of uranium mines.  Uranium slag-heaps emit radiation: levels between four and ten times higher than ‘normal’ levels.  Director Nick Davidson exposes the extent to which unregulated industrial activity has turned this region into an environmental disaster area.