The Man who Saved the World
Event Date: 28th September 2020
Location: Internet 15:00 BST
UNFOLD ZERO Newsletter
Invitation to an online screening of
The Man who Saved the World
an award-winning, feature length movie
Starring Stanislav Petrov, Sergey Shnyryov, Nataliya Vdovina and Kevin Costner.
With Robert De Niro, Matt Damon and Walter Cronkite
Monday September 28, 4pm EDT
followed by discussion with the movie director and screen writer Peter Anthony
Click here to register.
On September 26, 1983, an incident unfolded at a Soviet nuclear early warning system that nearly led to a nuclear war by accident.
The Man Who Saved the World is a feature length movie about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who prevented the nuclear false alarm incident from becoming a nuclear holocaust.
The movie recreates those tense times in the Soviet nuclear facility, and then follows Petrov 30 years later when the incident is revealed to the West and Petrov is invited for the first time to the USA.
The movie has won a number of awards including the 2015 Sundance Film Festival Best Feature Film. Click here for the movie trailer.
This special screening is held in conjunction with the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and just a few days before the United Nations holds a High Level Meeting on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The screening will be introduced by Michaela Sorensen, United Nations Youth Association of Denmark. It will be followed by a live discussion and the opportunity for you to ask questions with Peter Anthony, Director and Screenwriter of the movie.
The movie screeing will be followed by a live discussion with movie director and screenwriter Peter Anthony, with the opportunity for you to ask questions.
About the movie:
For a few crucial minutes on September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov held the fate of the world in his hands. It was the height of the Cold War. The Soviets had recently shot down a Korean airliner. The United States was preparing to deploy Pershing II missiles in Europe. The Soviets suspected that the United States was planning a nuclear first strike.
In this tense time, a nuclear war was almost started by an error.
When an alarm suddenly went off at Soviet nuclear early warning center Serpukhov-15, Stanislav was responsible for reacting to information from Soviet satellites that five American nuclear missiles were heading toward the Soviet Union. Rather than initiate a nuclear retaliation, Stanislav went against protocol, and assured his colleagues that it was a false alarm.
He was right. His decision saved the world from a potential devastating nuclear holocaust. But he went unrecognised for this action for decades.
The Man Who Saved the World recreates those tense moments in 1983 when Stanislav was faced with the decision of his life. And it chronicles his spectacular journey to the United States three decades later, where he was finally acknowledged for his historic deed and found the strength to reconcile with his past.
In the film we see him reflecting on the current state of nuclear tensions as he visits a US nuclear missile silo. He is honoured at the United Nations. And he is thanked for his actions by celebrities including Walter Cronkite, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, and Ashton Kutcher.
Shot on location in the former Soviet Union and the United States, The Man Who Saved the World shines a light on the continued risks of nuclear weapons today, and the challenge to reject nuclear weapons in order to prevent an unimaginable disaster.