Taking its title from a man-made radioactive element on the periodic table, "Americium" addresses the literal contamination of sacred lands and the spiritual neglect of an American landscape. The film revolves around the contested long term nuclear storage facility of Yucca Mountain in Nevada using portraits of individuals and local communities to explore the conflicting ideologies and fantasies of the American West. It is a search for what is invisible and embedded within the landscape, a meditation on what is simultaneously real and imagined. The project is a culmination of several years of research on the subject, with most material being produced just prior to the November 2016 Presidential Election.

Lisa Rave, born 1979 in Guildford/UK, and Erik Blinderman, born 1979, New York, currently live and work in Berlin, Germany and co-run Whole Wall Films. Their work has been shown with institutions, galleries, and cinemas internationally.

Professor Alison Griffiths is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, where she teaches film history, visual studies, and media theory.

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