Islands on the Edge of Time (1996)

• 53%
• 1996
• Documentary
• Mary Beth Brangan
• James Heddle

A Microcosm In Micronesia - For more than twenty years from 1982 to 1996 award-winning filmmakers Mary Beth Brangan & James Heddle documented on film and video unfolding events in the fledgling island nation of Palau. When Palau voters made it the first nation in history to adopt a nuclear free, green constitution, Washington's war planners saw it as the threat of a good example. Palau became the poster child for the growing Nuclear Free Pacific movement and a cause celebre for the global nuclear free zone movement. The 10-year-long manipulation of the electoral process the U.S. then unleashed to force the rollback of Palauís nuclear ban became a text book case for subversion of the democratic process in developing countries and at home. Their experiences covering this story made the filmmakers life-long advocates of election integrity. These two 1-hour films - produced for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting a decade apart - tell the story.