Tina Cordova on screen. Smithwick stands on right.
Twenty people took their seats in the eclectic mix of chairs at Best Video Film and Cultural Center, waiting for a film to transport them across the country. Some stopped to grab a bite at the in-house cafe. Voices fell to a hush as the 2023 documentary First We Bombed New Mexico began to play on the projection screen.
Audience members watched solemnly as New Mexico residents spoke of the present-day health risks from 20th-century nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining and their ongoing battle with the U.S. government to seek action and accountability.
This scene unfolded last Tuesday at Hamden’s Best Video, during the opening night of the 2025 Environmental Film Festival at Yale (EFFY). EFFY, which this year ran from April 1-5, is the largest student-run environmental film festival in the world. Active since 2008, it has established itself as a public cultural event with over 3,000 followers online and hundreds of collective in-person attendees.
“EFFY is free and open to the public, and we really want [it] to be integrated into New Haven,” said EFFY co-leader Daniel Morgan, a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment. “I think this [event] was a great way to get out more into the community off-campus and show an excellent film and tell an excellent story.”
A feature length documentary directed by Lois Lipman, First We Bombed New Mexico tells the story of the Trinity test, the world’s first nuclear bomb detonated in South Central New Mexico in July 1945, a month before the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.
It sheds light on the enduring health struggles, loss, and trauma of thousands of New Mexicans--mostly Hispanic and Native American--who were exposed to catastrophic levels of radioactive fallout and toxic elements. This resulted in cancer and other diseases across generations of families, including but not limited to killing infants directly after the blast.
In short, “this is the story that Oppenheimer doesn’t tell,” Lipman wrote in the film’s description.
The film focuses on Latina community leader, mother, and cancer survivor Tina Cordova, who co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in 2005 to bring attention to the negative health impacts suffered by victims of Trinity, throughout the state and nationally, to reach politicians to take action on their behalf in Washington, D.C.
The film follows her efforts rallying fellow New Mexico residents, fostering collective healing for their loved ones lost from illness, and seeking compensation for New Mexico residents who continue to be harmed by the federal government research, development, testing, and burial of bombs in their backyards without their consent or awareness.
Official stills courtesy of the filmmaker.
The ultimate goal of the Consortium is to pass an amended Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to include New Mexico downwinders. RECA is a federal statute that passed in 1990 and expired in 2024 despite expressed support from President Biden after House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to bring it to the floor of the House of Representatives. It provides monetary compensation to people who filed a claim that they developed illnesses as a result of their exposure to U.S. atmospheric nuclear testing or working in the uranium industry.
The amendment would provide health care coverage and partial restitution to residents who have suffered with the negative health effects from overexposure to radiation over the last 80 years.
Following the screening, organizers held a Q&A with Cordova, who Zoomed in from New Mexico. The conversation was moderated in person by Mays Smithwick, a PhD student in the American Studies department at Yale University and a nuclear abolition activist.
One event attendee was Peter Cyr, a lifelong Hamdenite, Farmington Canal Commission member, and regular of Best Video. “I think a lot of people don’t realize the impacts of nuclear waste and how far reaching and long they are,” he said. Cyr pointed to how Americans were quick to celebrate winning World War II without thinking about what was left behind.
Morgan (left) and Hatajik (right).
EFFY is organized by a team of students at the Yale School of the Environment. This year, its co-leaders are Morgan, Jack Hatajik, and Isabela Valencia, all second year master’s students.
Hatajik said he was thankful that this screening provided an avenue to spread awareness of a case of the country’s “horrible history” in perpetuating environmental injustice. “To be able to showcase this kind of story and bring it to more audience members is really really critical in a time like this,” he said.
Following Tuesday’s opening night, EFFY hosted a panel exploring different forms of climate change communication on Wednesday, followed by film screenings and moderated discussions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The film lineup featured diverse themes including Indigenous culture and sovereignty, redwood forest preservation, Jamaican spiritual ecology, urban agriculture, natural burials, and scientists undertaking civil disobedience to propel climate action. View their 2025 agenda on their website.
Documentary films range from Bring Them Home (2024) which was executive produced by Golden Globes-winner Lily Gladstone to Farming While Black (2023) starring farmer and author Leah Penniman, who was previously bestowed a Visionary Leadership Award by New Haven’s own International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
Most of the films screened in person, in addition to a few online exclusives, can be viewed for free until April 20th as part of EFFY Online, allowing people to view or rewatch film selections for the two weeks following the in-person festival.
"I feel honored to have had the chance to help provide a platform for stories that might not otherwise get told,” Valencia said over email. “We need more events that bring people together to share stories about their relationship to nature, to others, and more generally, the world around them. I believe this would go a long way in promoting mutual understanding.”
Watch EFFY Online offerings until April 20th via Eventive. You can also keep up to date on their work through their Instagram, Facebook, or website. If you are interested in submitting your film to EFFY for 2026, keep an eye on their FilmFreeway page for an announcement of their winter deadline.