Ethan Miller

Premieres Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app + Encores Saturday, Aug. 9 at 9 a.m. and Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. on KPBS 2. Combining their personal accounts with archive footage, the film features a number of voices from some of the only people left on Earth to have survived a nuclear bomb.

After many years of being abandoned by their government, the survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan (Hibakusha) come together to campaign for compensation, medical assistance, and nuclear disarmament. They continue to fight for full compensation from their government and the abolition of nuclear weapons.

After surviving the horrors of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many survivors (Hibakusha) faced hardship and challenges later in their personal lives.

In a remarkable story, a survivor (Hibakusha) of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima survived the blast after only being 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the epicenter of the bomb. The Hibakusha man retells how his older brother bandaged him up and carried him to safety as a kid.

On Aug.6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Survivors of the bombing (Hibakusha) retell what their day was like before the bombing and the horrors they experienced shortly afterwards.

Combining their personal accounts with archive footage, "Atomic People" features a number of voices from some of the only people left on Earth to have survived a nuclear bomb.