Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Vicki Lesley

@vickilesley.bsky.social

390 followers 630 following 94 posts

Documentary filmmaker & mum in Brighton. Director, 'The Atom: A Love Affair' theatomfilm.com Hosting monthly online film club ‘The Film Thread’ & writing about work, life, & films at ‘Vicki Lesley is…Documental’ vickilesley.substack.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Jul 10

Check out my new online community 'The Film Thread' - like a book group, but for films!
A slow cinema journey of curiosity & connection, tracing one theme across multiple films over many months. First season = atomic movies. Half price till the end of July 🤩 vickilesley.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

THE FILM THREAD 🎬🪡

Welcome to The Film Thread! My hand-curated, algorithm-free members' community, where film-lovers come together to explore life's big ideas & experiences, slowly & thoughtfully, through the magic of t...

vickilesley.substack.com

1 2

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 21h

Tomorrow morning. Join us! 🍿⚛️☕️🥐

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 4d

Got any plans for Sunday morning? Why not pop in to my online film club for a cozy chat about this hilarious/weird documentary with me & the official historian at Aldermaston. Coffee, croissants & nuclear warheads! I'd love to see you there vickilesley.substack.com/p/10-things-... #filmsky #nukesky

10 Things to Know About... 'The Plutonium Circus'

Your introductory primer and companion short in The Film Thread this month

vickilesley.substack.com

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 3d

Reading about the amazing Greenham rebel women and enjoying some autumn sunshine in the community garden this morning. The reading/researching/thinking phase of a new film is such a nice place to be…

An open book (chapter heading - Bylaws and Bailiffs) in the foreground with a small community garden and the tops of houses beyond

Sign on a metal gate reading Bee-friendly community garden

Reposted by Vicki Lesley

Nuclear War Films @nukefilms.bsky.social · 5d

Today in 1964 Fail Safe was released in theaters.
#filmsky #nukesky

Fail Safe poster.
A shattered book and a bomber plane with the text: “FAIL SAFE WILL HAVE YOU SITTING.
ON THE BRINK OF ETERNITY!
FAIL SAFE”

1 6

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 4d

10 Things to Know About... 'The Plutonium Circus'

Your introductory primer and companion short in The Film Thread this month

vickilesley.substack.com

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 9d

Been reading a memoir from Greenham Common this morning and it's only making me even more excited about reading the new novel from @eanstruther.bsky.social Fallout, coming to your shelves next year. Check out the trailer! #nukesky

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 10d

This is appalling news!

So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 10d

Labour ask guy who says ME/CFS isn't real to review mental health & neurodiversity diagnoses, this is gna go exactly how they want it to, in order to push ppl out of access to healthcare, benefits & support – what better way to save £ than erase patients?

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

1 1

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 10d

You know that feeling when you've done something a hundred times and you just have to celebrate by listening to a Tragically Hip song? Just me then😄 If you've absolutely no idea what I'm on about, give this a read and all will become clear...

Monthly Meander Sept '25: Ahead by a Century

Celebrating the wins & bearing the stings with an iconic song

vickilesley.substack.com

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 12d

Two freaky Fridays, some ludicrous flooding, yacht rock and the mental load - just some of the cultural snacks I’ve got to share with you this month. Also a whole lot of Australians. Check it out 🤩

Round-up Meander Aug/Sept '25: Good things to read, watch & listen to 📚📺🎧

Here come the Aussies...

open.substack.com

Reposted by Vicki Lesley

Scarred For Life @scarredforlife.bsky.social · 19d

CRACKS (1975): Legendary Sesame Street animation that was, for decades, considered lost media until it popped up on YouTube. Creepy, queasy, and wonderfully weird, it features legendary sax player Mel Martin and Dorothy Moskowitz from experimental rock band The United States of America.

4 21 70

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 19d

If I was in London I would one hundred percent be booking a ticket for this... @thegardencinema.bsky.social continue to excel with their brilliant programming 👏🏻https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/peter-watkins-the-war-game-at-60-with-peter-kennard/

Peter Watkins' The War Game at 60 with Peter Kennard / The Garden Cinema

We find ourselves in a year of atomic anniversaries, 80 years since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and with a strong sense that a resurgent nuclear arms race is underway again. However, anothe...

www.thegardencinema.co.uk

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · 24d

Wanna come to 'The Plutonium Circus'? Yep it's off to the Lone Star State for our next pick in my online film club currently taking a slow tour across the atomic age. Just £8 gets you full access to my deep dive intro post & our online meetup. Details here⬇️ #filmsky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

The Film Thread: this month's atomic story on screen 🎬🪡⚛️

Big characters & big questions in a rarely-seen, razor-sharp doc from the American South

open.substack.com

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Sep 7

A flying visit to the beautiful Othona Community nestled by the mudflats on the Essex coast, in the shadow of Bradwell nuclear power station, to screen my film at an intimate gathering of artists, archaeologists & activists. What a landscape. I hope to come again someday and stay a little longer.

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Sep 6

A quick reminder: our next online meeting of The Film Thread film club is TOMORROW when we’ll be discussing this incredible anime about a young boy living in Hiroshima when the bomb drops. It’s just £8 to sign up - all details in the post. I’d love to see you there! open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

10 Things to Know About... 'Barefoot Gen'

Your introductory primer, plus two companion shorts to watch

open.substack.com

1 3

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 29

Have you seen this incredible film? It’s perhaps the definitive celluloid telling of a true story of survival after the Hiroshima bomb. We’re discussing it in my film club this month - all very welcome (details in the primer post ⬇️) #filmsky #nukesky

open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

10 Things to Know About... 'Barefoot Gen'

Your introductory primer, plus two companion shorts to watch

open.substack.com

1 2

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 21

I have now! #britishholidays #isleofwight

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 14

Found amidst the layers of old newspaper (2004 on top of 1974) underneath the fitted wardrobe the builders just ripped out of my bedroom. Yes that’s a Page 3 playing card! (I’ll spare you the picture on the other side). Cue explaining Page 3 girls to my 11 year old son. “That’s just *weird*. Yup.

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 11

Three great movies I had no idea I had squirrelled away on VHS…

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 7

As part of remembering & honouring the victims at Hiroshima in 1945, I recorded some survivors' testimonies, taken from a book I purchased in the Peace Memorial Museum when I visited in 2004. Do listen & share with anyone you think needs to hear these words. vickilesley.substack.com/p/extracts-f...

Hiroshima survivors - in their own words

Readings from the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation's collection of first-person essays, first published in 1990

vickilesley.substack.com

Reposted by Vicki Lesley

Bill Geerhart @conelrad6401240.bsky.social · Aug 6

"Many Christians are deeply disturbed over use of atomic bombs against Japanese cities." - Samuel McCrea Cavert [1888-1976] telegram sent 80 years ago to President Truman.

With Truman's Aug. 11, 1945 reply. Found these at the Truman Presidential Library a few years ago.

1 5

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 6

A very special interview on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb strike on Hiroshima with Professor Yuki Miyamoto, who grew up in the city as the child of a hibakusha (survivor of the attack). Do take a moment today to have a read if you can #nukesky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

The Atom & Us: Yuki Miyamoto

"I avoided looking at the Atomic Bomb Dome whenever I passed by on my way to downtown Hiroshima. It was a haunting reminder of the pain that lingered in our city."

open.substack.com

2 2

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 5

I'd not heard of the 'family successors' initiative for children of hibakusha to record & pass on their parents' experiences of surviving the atomic bomb mentioned here - but I'm glad to learn of it. We cannot allow their voices & their warnings to be forgotten... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Hiroshima’s fading legacy: the race to secure survivors’ memories amid a new era of nuclear brinkmanship

Eighty years on from the destruction of the city, registered survivors of the blast - known as hibakusha – have fallen below 100,000

www.theguardian.com

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 1

Was about to say I had parenting of both kids at the Brighton & Hove CC Under 11s Friday night match fully under control. Until a neat cover drive from the first born almost took out my pint!! 🤣 #cricket

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Aug 1

Samuel L Jackson being sensational as ever!

Ryan Katz-Rosene, PhD @ryankatzrosene.bsky.social · Jul 31

I would deeply enjoy supervising a PhD thesis about this advertisement… please get in touch 😅

(Yes, it’s a real advertisement!)

Reposted by Vicki Lesley

Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · Jul 31

So I feel like it should be obvious why naming a public software release after a raw material is a bad idea on a number of levels... "Today, CISA, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, announced the public availability of Thorium."

www.cisa.gov/resources-to...

Thorium | CISA

www.cisa.gov

3 5 34

Vicki Lesley @vickilesley.bsky.social · Jul 31

Counting down to the end of the launch discount on my slow cinema club The Film Thread. Half price till the end of today. Come chat about nuclear testing sending the world spinning off its axis! (thankfully only in Val Guest's movie not for real😁) vickilesley.substack.com/subscribe #filmsky #nukesky