Project Overview

Uranium mining began in Elliot Lake in the mid 1950s and lasted until the 1990s. Decades after the mines were closed, there are still severe environmental, health, social, cultural, and economic impacts from uranium mining, milling, and tailing disposal. Once the mines are no longer viable, the focus of these sites is turned to what is called “land rehabilitation”. Andrea Bussmann and Nicolas Pereda intend to make a short experimental documentary titled “Unearthed”, which focuses on the decommissioned mines around Elliot Lake. The two will travel to Elliot Lake in June to attend the Uranium Heritage Festival, which offers decommissioned mine tours. While there, they will record the tours and conduct interviews in order to examine the trans-species and trans-historical relations of these spaces; how the past and their potential futures haunt them.

Photo Credit: Nicolas Pereda, 80min HD Video, 2014

Artist Bio

Andrea Bussmann was born in Toronto, Canada. She earned an MA in Social Anthropology and MFA in Film Production. After completing her degrees she directed He Whose Face Gives No Light. Andrea has also worked as a producer, editor and collaborator with other filmmakers. She produced and edited the short film Three Walls and the feature film Harvest Moon, both of which went on to win and be nominated for several international awards, including a Canadian Screen Award. In 2016 she co-directed Tales of Two Who Dreamt, which premiered at the Berlinale Forum, and went on to be selected at many international festivals. The film was awarded the best documentary at the Festival International de Films de Femmes in 2017. In 2018, she directed Fausto, which premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it was awarded a Special Mention in the Filmmakers of the Present Competition. The film has won several awards since, including the Discovery Award from the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC) and the Best Latin American Film at Mar del Plata International Film Festival, and was nominated by the Vancouver Film Critics for Best Canada Film.

Nicolás Pereda is a filmmaker whose work explores the everyday through fractured and elliptical narratives using fiction and documentary tools. His work has been the subject of 35 retrospectives worldwide in venues such as Anthology Film Archive, Pacific Film Archive, Jeonju International Film Festival and TIFF Cinematheque. He has also presented his films in most major international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, and Toronto, as well as in galleries and museums like the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Guggenheim and MOMA in New York, and in television stations such as HBO, Turner, MVS, Netflix, and ISat. In 2010 he was awarded the Premio Orizzonti at the Venice Film Festival.