We Live Here

Synopsis

Original Title: Atameken

We Live Here (2025) tells the untold story of the long-lasting impacts of the Soviet Union’s nuclear tests in Kazakhstan, as experienced by those still living with the consequences.

In the desolate Abai region, part of the Kazakh steppe, the Soviet Union carried out nearly 500 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) between the 1940s and Kazakhstan’s independence in 1991.
Spanning three generations, this documentary uncovers how the region's toxic legacy persists—through personal suffering and political silence. With haunting visuals, intimate testimonies and sweeping shots of a poisoned landscape, this film is a powerful meditation on inherited trauma and environmental devastation.

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