Now Streaming: THE ATOMIC CAFE Blows Up

When I was young, I was blissfully unaware of the differences between narrative and documentary films. If it looked good, I watched it.

In that spirit, I attended Filmex in Los Angeles in the early 1980s. The film festival, the first I ever attended, was an eye-opener for a burgeoning cinephile (or, at least, someone like me who loved movies).

As I recall, that's where I first saw Kevin Rafferty's The Atomic Cafe, co-directed by Jayne Loader, in 1982 (during the early years of Reagan's America). The film presents an amazing collage of footage from many different sources, including educational films and television programs, dating back to a more innocent time, when unfettered atomic power actually looked like a good idea.

My memory of that packed screening, sharing in the gasps and laughs induced by the eye-raising material with a crowd of appreciative and respectful people, remains one of my fondest memories from that period of my life. So I'm sorry to hear that Kevin Rafferty passed away early in July at the age of 73, but glad to hear that The Atomic Cafe is now streaming on KinoNow.com.

The service is also streaming Rafferty's Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (2008), along with a slew of indie docs, including the recently added The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, A Bigger Splash, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project.

Frankly, I don't watch as many indie and international documentaries as I should, in order to enjoy a more balanced cinematic diet, so I think I will start to remedy that deficiency this weekend.

Now Streaming covers international and indie genre films and TV shows that are available on legal streaming services.