Islands on the Edge of Time

1996

56min

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's 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 Palau's 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.