It
is arguably the most historically significant lost American film. It was one of
the first documentaries recognized by the Academy Awards (via a special
citation) and it provided a first-hand record of the Japanese bombing of Chongqing
from the fire-engulfed streets. Yet there are no screenable and preservable
prints currently known to be in existence. Fellow Hawaiian filmmaker Robin Lung
illuminates the content of the missing film and the role played in its
production by the glamorous and mysterious Li Ling-ai in Finding Kukan (trailer here), which screens during DOC NYC 2016.
Frustrated
by the lack of media attention devoted the Japanese aggression in China and
concerned for the safety of her beloved nurse sister, Chinese American Li
understood the way to reach American hearts and minds was through cinema. Fortuitously,
there happened to be an adventurous photo-journalist in Honolulu by the name of
Rey Scott. With a little goading, Li convinced him to capture conditions
throughout China, including the war-era capitol Chongqing for a feature
documentary she conceived.
It
seems Scott later spliced in footage of Li he shot in the U.S. before leaving
for China, but like so many aspects of Kukan,
the question remains murky. However, Li clearly assumed the financing and
publicity responsibilities, even though she was only credited as an advisor.
Lung persuasively argues Li did not get the credit or recognition she deserved
for Kukan (which incidentally roughly
means “bitter struggle”). However, she takes nothing away from Scott, who very
definitely risked his life shooting the film. In fact, Scott emerges as a
sympathetic and somewhat tragic figure, due to struggles with post-traumatic
stress after serving as a military cameraman in several theaters of combat.
While
there are certainly issues of appropriation in Finding Kukan, it is refreshing that both the Scott and Li families
appreciate the contributions of each filmmaker. If there is a villain in the
film’s mysterious disappearance it is probably the bankrupt distributor or
Hollywood’s general short-sightedness. Some talking heads speculate 1950s
anti-Communism led to the film’s devaluation, but this seems unlikely given Kukan’s pro-Nationalist perspective. It
would also be colossally and cosmically unfair that Kukan would be discarded, when the deliberate and overt white-wash
of Stalinism, Mission to Moscow (in
which the victims of the Moscow Show Trials had it coming) still survives in
all its shame to this day.
Li’s
story is fascinating and interview footage of her recorded in the mid-1990s,
when she too was in her mid-90s, proves she was something else entirely. Sharp
as a whip, she could break-up the film crew with her acerbic asides (so do not
leave while the closing credits roll). She could turn on the charm and generate
press, so it is rather baffling that she was nearly forgotten until Finding Kukan just started making the
festival rounds.
