Irradiated in 1986 when he was he was exposed to the toxic effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Fedor Alexandrovich was forced to leave his home at the age of four. Now 33, he is an artist in Ukraine with a singular obsession with the catastrophe - why did it actually happen? Was there more to the story than the Soviet government let on? And, most importantly, what did this all have to do with the giant, mysterious steel pyramid now rotting away 2 miles from the disaster site: a hulking Cold War weapon known as the Duga and nicknamed "the Russian Woodpecker" for the strange, constant clicking radio frequencies that it emits?

Chad Gracia's documentary plays out like a conspiracy thriller, following Fedor as he returns to the ghost towns in the radioactive Exclusion Zone to try to find answers - and to decide whether to risk his life by revealing them, amid growing clouds of Ukraine's emerging revolution and war.

Sundance Film Festival 2015: Grand Jury Prize - World Cinema - Documentary

"A complex documentary about Chernobyl that is surprisingly, richly enjoyable." – Variety

"It’s a rollicking ride of masterly narrative construction unlike any other documentary in Sundance." ★★★★ – The Guardian

"An unveiling of the past with intrigue worthy of All the President's Men and a warning cry for the future of an unstable region at the mercy of a tyrant, The Russian Woodpecker is an arresting, thought-provoking and seismically important creation." ★★★★★ - Cine-Vue