jooties: Sundance Film Festival and Nanking the Documentary

“Nanking” at Sundance Film Festival

In January I had the opportunity to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Sundance is considered the premier US showcase for American and independent films. There was only one movie that I was really intent on supporting, the highly anticipated world premiere screening of the documentary Nanking. Fortunately I was able to get tickets to one of the six sold out screenings. This film has significant meaning to me since I had a small part on the crew, but also because it was close to my heart, being a Chinese-American woman who heard similar tales about World War II in China through the eyes of my own grandmother.

“A powerful, emotional and relevant reminder of the heartbreaking toll war takes on the innocent, Nanking tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II. As part of a campaign to conquer all of China, the Japanese subjected Nanking – which was then China’s capital – to months of aerial bombardment, and when the city fell, the Japanese army unleashed murder and rape on a horrifying scale. In the midst of the rampage, a small group of Westerners banded together to establish a Safety Zone where over 200,000 Chinese found refuge. Unarmed, these missionaries, university professors, doctors and businessmen – including a Nazi named John Rabe – bored witness to the events, while risking their own lives to protect civilians from slaughter.” (www.nankingthefilm.com)

The film interweaves archival images, interviews of Chinese survivors, testimonies from former Japanese soldiers, and readings of first hand accounts, bringing the forgotten past to startling life. Nanking is directed by the Academy Award winning director/producer team of Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman and features Woody Harrelson and Mariel Hemingway. Nanking exposes the horrors of war but also affirms the extraordinary impact that individuals can do to help others. The film was dedicated to Iris Chang, late author of the New York Times bestseller, The Rape of Nanking. Her book inspired the producer, AOL executive Ted Leonsis, to make a movie about these tragic aspects of history as it had both haunted and inspired him after reading her book.

For more information about Nanking, visit the website at www.nankingthefilm.com

It is showing at the Tribeca Film Festival coming up next week in NYC, and I hope that we'lll be able to do a local screeninig of it in the Hampton Roads Virginia Beach area.

--------