skip to content
 

Public Lecture Series: ‘In memory of all who suffered and sacrificed’: a conversation with LUKE HULL, Production Designer of the HBO/Sky miniseries ‘CHERNOBYL’

‘In memory of all who suffered and sacrificed’: a conversation with LUKE HULL, Production Designer of the HBO/Sky miniseries ‘CHERNOBYL’

Title: CamCREES/Cambridge Ukrainian Studies/Slavonic Studies - Public Lecture Series: ‘In memory of all who suffered and sacrificed’: a conversation with Luke Hull, Production Designer of the HBO/Sky miniseries ‘Chernobyl’ 

Time and Date: 5:00 – 8PM, Thursday 20 February 2020

Place: Keynes Hall, King’s College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge

Tickets: The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Registration is required.  Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-with-luke-hull-production-de...

Event Description: Cambridge Ukrainian Studies and the Slavonic Studies Section invite you to a conversation with Luke Hull, Production Designer of the acclaimed and award-winning HBO/Sky miniseries ‘Chernobyl’ (2019) written by Craig Mazin and directed by John Renck.

Lauded as “brilliantly structured and anchored by great performances” ‘Chernobyl’ tells the story of the cataclysmic nuclear meltdown that took place on 26th April, 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located about 50km north of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear disaster, exposed the inadequacies of the one-party Soviet system and contributed to the transformation and collapse of Soviet society. The HBO/Sky miniseries takes the story of Chernobyl and makes it relatable; it exposes the human element involved in both the making of the disaster and in the efforts to contain it. It makes the dangers of nuclear power palpable through smelted graphite, festering wounds, the hollowness of landscapes, and the trials of survival. It also makes tangible the perils of cover-ups, of fake news and of the manipulation of facts. 

‘Chernobyl’ has been awarded 10 Emmys and 2 Golden Globes; one of the Emmys went to Luke Hull (Production Designer), Karen Wakefield (Art Director) and Claire Levinson-Gendler (Set Decorator) for ‘Outstanding Production Design for a narrative period or fantasy programme’. As production designer, Luke Hull was responsible for the visual look of the miniseries – for visually telling the story of Chernobyl. He accomplished this with such accuracy and authenticity that the series has been hailed as the best representation of 1980’s Soviet reality ever produced in Western or Russian television or film. Viewers watching the series are transported into the world of 1980’s Ukraine, Belarus and Moscow. Clothing, thick framed glasses, prams, concrete slab buildings, grimy apartment interiors and dingy corridors, grand hallways and imposing offices of bureaucrats, numerous doors guarded by countless administrators, stark hospital rooms, rudimentary equipment, the sounds of sirens and helicopters, abandoned villages, are just some of the elements that allow viewers to travel back in time into the Soviet past that Chernobyl helped destroy.

Join us to hear Luke Hull explain just what is involved in recreating the worst nuclear meltdown and Soviet reality for film. After a few introductory remarks, the evening will take the format of a Q&A session.  Wine and soft drinks will be served from 17.00- 17.30, preceding the event.

Powered by Eventbrite

 

Keep in touch

        

Slavonic News

New Work in Slavonic Studies Lecture Series - 'The Russian Poet Who Cannot Be Seen or Heard'

12 March 2024

We are delighted to invite you to the final talk in the New Work in Slavonic Studies guest speaker lecture series, 'The Russian Poet Who Cannot Be Seen or Heard' with Stephanie Sandler (Harvard University). This talk will take place on Thursday 14 March at 17:15 in Winstanley Theatre, Trinity College. The performance of...

In Memoriam: Natasha Squire (1931-2024)

27 February 2024

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Natasha Squire (1931-2024) at the age of 92. Natasha taught Russian in the Department of Slavonic Studies to generations of students. She was an Emeritus Fellow of Lucy Cavendish, a college which she joined in 1966, and where she served as Senior Tutor, and in many...