Chernobyl Heart

Chernobyl Heart is a documentary about the effects of radiation on the children of Belarus, 16 years after the accident at the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl. The film begins with the journey into the exclusion zone, driving to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and follows the invisible trail of radiation to the country’s hospitals,cancer centers, orphanages, and mental asylums, where the children live, or are being treated for their disease. Maryann De Leo travelled throughout Belarus following Adi Roche, the executive director of the Chernobyl Children’s Project,an Irish organisation that has been delivering humanitarian aid to the children of Belarus since 1991. In a children’s hospital, they follow Dr. Wiliam Novick, surgeon from the USA and his organisation “The International Children’s Heart Foundation” through 13 heart operations, saving the lives of children born with hearts that have multiple defects, often called a Chernobyl Heart. In 2004 the film won an Oscar in the category “Best Documentary Short Subject.”