New Documentary Featuring Daniel Ellsberg on the Increasing Danger of Nuclear War

Earlier this year, growing concerns about the increased potential for the use of nuclear weapons led the respected Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move its Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight — the closest it has ever been to catastrophe.

AN ORDINARY INSANITY is a new 29-minute documentary featuring renowned whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg that provides a powerful wake-up call about the threat posed by nuclear weapons and what we can do to dramatically reduce the risk of global annihilation.

Before releasing the top-secret Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, Ellsberg served as a nuclear war planner with access to extensive classified information on U.S. nuclear strategy. 

Filmed by Oscar-nominated director Judith Ehrlich a year before his death at age 92, Ellsberg speaks with clarity and urgency about the dangers we face: “A threat and a readiness and a preparation and a rehearsal of causing nuclear winter and destroying most large life on Earth, that is insane. You have to call it a kind of ‘ordinary insanity’ because it’s so widely shared.”

With ongoing conflicts heightening global nuclear tensions, and the recent end of the New START treaty raising concerns about a renewed arms race, An Ordinary Insanity arrives at a critical moment. The film will help to awaken broader public concern and action for arms control and nuclear disarmament agreements.

AN ORDINARY INSANITY was selected for screening at six international film festivals, winning Best Short Documentary at the Sydney World Film Festival. The film premiered at the United Nations Association Film Festival, where it was praised as a “film that will shock you and inspire hope.”