Year: 1982
Language: English
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 26 min
Director: Terre Nash
Producer: Edward Le Lorrain, Kathleen Shannon
Cinematographer: André-Luc Dupont, Don Virgo, Susan Trow
Editor: Terre Nash
Sound: Jacques Drouin, Jacqueline Newell, Jean-Pierre Joutel
Music: Karl Du Plessis
Cast: Helen Caldicott
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada

Terre Nash’s directorial debut became an international sensation when it was labelled "propaganda" by the conservative administration of U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who banned it from screening in the United States.

In the film, renowned peace activist Dr. Helen Caldicott delivers a lecture about what a nuclear war would mean in terms of human casualties. Nash then cuts from shots of Caldicott's eloquent speech to horrifying black-and-white images of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If You Love This Planet is devastating in its simplicity; it is one of the definitive films of the peace movement. The film won an Academy Award for best short documentary, and during her Oscar acceptance speech, Nash thanked the Reagan administration for the added publicity.

By: Matthew Hays