Forest Whitaker Joins Rachid Bouchareb’s ‘Boomerang Atomic’ As EP Ahead Of DOC NYC Screening

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award-winning actor and producer Forest Whitaker has joined Rachid Bouchareb’s Boomerang Atomic as an executive producer ahead of its screening at DOC NYC in November.

The documentary revisits France’s first atomic bomb detonation on February 13, 1960 close to the remote town of Reggane in the heart of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, at a time when the country was still under French colonial rule.

French Algerian director Bouchareb, whose 2006 drama Days of Glory was Oscar-nominated, examines the devastating consequences that continue to affect local populations and the environment more than six decades later.

Drawing exclusively on French state archives, the documentary presents the nuclear test through the images and commentary originally produced by French authorities, without contemporary narration, inviting audiences to confront both the history captured on film and the human realities left outside the frame.

“I was impressed with the historical authenticity and powerful emotional impact. This important documentary made an indelible impact on me and needs to be seen,” said Whitaker.

“After seeing Rachid Bouchareb’s documentary, I became aware of the human consequences of the atomic bomb testing in Algeria. Rachid has unveiled the misuse of the testing and its long-range consequences on the local populations and land. The film sheds a necessary light on the devastation and makes you think about what its usage would mean in warfare today.”

Boomerang Atomic is part of a larger body of work the filmmaker has been developing around France’s nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara.

The short documentary serves as the first chapter of this project, which will continue with Reggane, a feature film currently in development with American and Japanese co-producers. Moving from archival documentary to fiction, the two films aim to illuminate a largely overlooked history, giving voice to the local populations, soldiers, and workers exposed to nuclear fallout and exploring the enduring consequences of the tests across generations and borders.

“Through this documentary, I aim to revisit the French nuclear test in Reggane on 13 February 1960: France’s first atomic explosion on Algerian soil. This is not only about recounting a historical event, but about giving voice to the archival images of the time and their commentary, while shedding light on the health, environmental and human consequences that remain today,” said Bouchareb.

The DOC NYC screening will continue a worldwide tour for Boomerang Atomic which premiered Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2025 and has played at numerous film festivals since, winning the Audience Award at the 2026 Seoul International Eco Film Festival.

The film was also presented in Hiroshima by UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research program, this summer as part of commemorations for the dropping of the world’s first deployed atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945. The bomb detonated close to Reggane was four times more powerful than that used on Hiroshima.

Bouchareb’s exploration of the events around France’s Reggane nuclear tests intersects with his wider body of work exploring colonial memory, immigration, exile, identity, and Franco-Algerian history

Aside from Days of Glory, his other award-winning films include Dust of Life (1995) and Outside the Law (2010). Bouchareb and Whitaker first connected through the former’s 2014 feature Berlinale competition film Two Men in Town. Whitaker starred as a recently released convict attempting to turnaround his life opposite Harvey Keitel as a vengeful sheriff determined to put him back inside.