Forty years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine remains one of the most complex and haunting environments on Earth. Standing as a testament to global cooperation is the New Safe Confinement (NSC)—the largest moveable metal structure ever built, designed to seal off the highly radioactive remains of Reactor 4 for the next century.

Commissioned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, the immersive documentary, Chornobyl: Inside the New Safe Confinement, required a delicate balance of technical precision and raw nerves. Director of Photography and Immersive Technology Lead, Henry Stuart, will take you behind the scenes of a production defined by extreme variables. The crew navigated the unique challenges of working in a high-security shelter—one punctured by a Russian drone only months prior to the shoot—all while managing strict radiation monitoring and dosimetry protocols.

Henry will anchor his talk around the gruelling reality of filming in a restricted zone under the shadow of invisible radioactive particles and modern warfare. Through this lens, the project highlights not only the enduring legacy of a 20th-century catastrophe but also the resilience required to preserve its history amidst a 21st-century conflict.

Henry Stuart is the founder of Visualise, one of the UK's leading immersive studios, and co-founder of Meta Camera, makers of professional 360-degree cinema systems used in VR filmmaking, virtual production and live broadcast. Over fifteen years he has led and shot immersive content at the Olympics, World Cups, Wimbledon, the Ryder Cup and the NBA, and worked with artists including Imagine Dragons, Kasabian, Sigrid and Bastille.

On Chornobyl: Inside the New Safe Confinement, Henry led the technical side of production as Director of Photography and Immersive Technology Lead, filming inside the New Safe Confinement, Reactor 3's control room and the abandoned city of Pripyat using Meta Camera's 12.5K system.

He is the author of "Virtual Reality Marketing" (Kogan Page) and a member of BIMA's Immersive Tech Council alongside the BBC, Aardman, Meta and Epic. He has been named in the BIMA Hot 100 in 2024.

EXPLORE PASS OPTIONS

Join the session live on Zoom on Friday, 12th June or watch the replay. Please see the schedule below for your local time. For sessions that fall too early or too late in your time zone, we highly recommend catching up via our on-demand replays.

  • EUROPE – FRIDAY, 12 JUNE

    • 3:30 PM - 4 PM BST (UK)

    • 4:30 PM - 5 PM CET

    • 5:30 PM - 6 PM EET

  • NORTH AMERICA – FRIDAY, 12 JUNE

    • 10:30 AM - 11 AM EDT

    • 9:30 AM - 10 AM CDT

    • 8:30 AM - 9 AM MDT

    • 7:30 AM - 8 AM PDT

  • ASIA – FRIDAY, 12 JUNE

    • 10:30 PM - 11 PM CST

    • 11:30 PM - 12 AM JST

    • 11:30 PM - 12 AM KST

  • AUSTRALIA – SATURDAY, 13 JUNE

    • 12:30 AM - 1 AM AEST