Duck and cover! This narration-free film collage of newsreels, advertisements, and propaganda paints a picture of America at the dawn of the nuclear age that manages to be both chilling and hilarious. THE ATOMIC CAFE is an excellent example of the value of the film archive, stitching together images like the destruction of Hiroshima with a commercial featuring people drinking “Atomic Cocktails” for a type of dark humor that could only emerge in retrospect. The film feels as relevant as ever in 2018 as the still-existing Doomsday clock reads two minutes to midnight for the first time since 1953. Grab your Geiger counter, you don’t want to miss this one. A new 4K Restoration!

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Directed by Jayne Loader & Kevin Raffety

USA, 1982, 1h 26min, DCP, English

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Tickets: https://www.austinfilm.org/screening/atomic-cafe/