There is a big crate in a field near Kazakhstan’s border with Russia. It is called the Polygon. Mushroom clouds towered up into the sky here numerous times in the past, because here the Soviet government conducted nuclear tests for about 40 years. After the Apocalypse documents the genetic alterations that the local population suffered as a result of the nuclear tests and brings a controversy over nuke which some people advocate as “necessary evil.” Bibigul and her husband live near Polygon and raise livestock. Her life is happy and peaceful but her face is too deformed to be called normal; it is hideous. Her mother and her son are the same. And her pregnancy stirs up the community. Local gynecologist Dr. Nurmagambetov believes that the women carrying the defective genes shouldn’t be allowed to give birth. That’s because their offspring won’t be able to live with dignity since there is not enough social support to protect them. The hospital wants the embryo to be examined but she delivers the baby anyways.

Will her baby be normal? How long must her family live with an ontological dilemma? Is nuclear power necessary even if human dignity is denied? Since the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power has become the subject of intense debate. Some people are in search of a raison d'être for nuclear power by placing it on a continuum between a sin and a necessary evil. Do they still strongly believe in the need for it, even now? (KANG Seokpil)

※ After the Apocalypse is screened in International Competition Section.