70s America photographed itself dying—then forgot the negatives existed for 40 years.
In the seventies, during the Richard Nixon administration, Documerica, a large-scale photographic project, led by the US Environmental Protection Agency, sought to document the country's environmental situation. The tens of thousands of photos, taken by hundreds of photographers, constitute a unique archive, showing a landscape ravaged by pollution and environmental degradation.
Cinematography
Kodachrome decay so beautiful it hurts.
Editing
Jarring then/now cuts that indict the present.
Writing
Narration weaponizes bureaucratic optimism.
Director
Pierre-François Didek
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The original Documerica archive contains over 22,000 images, many never digitized until this production. Didek personally scanned hundreds in a Maryland basement.
The project launched the same week Nixon created the EPA in 1971—making these images both birth certificate and autopsy of American environmental regulation.
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