Kukan: The Battle Cry of China (Scott, 1941) is a lost Oscar-winning film produced during the Second World War. In April 2015, the Academy Film Archives sent an incomplete film print of Kukan back to China. A grand ceremony observing the arrival of the film was held in Chunking, China, one of the most grievous battlefronts of the eastern hemisphere during the war. The film itself, although “crudely made,” was one of the handfuls of documentaries that captured Japan’s invasion of China from a western camera. However, without regards to its Academy Award in the following year, Kukan vanished mysteriously without a single video print saved. Now that it has reappeared and returned in China, the nation hailed the film as an inarguable testimony
…show more content…
When Scott arrived in China, the whole country was in the lion’s den. Without production crew, he risked his life videotaping his journey with a 16mm handheld camera and great courage. When the completed film print of Kukan first arrived in the U.S. in 1941, it came only with footages (shot in Technicolor) and diegetic sound. The commentary and musical score were added later in the postproduction. Kukan’s first release, after many twists and turns, took place in the New York City and met with a great deal of attention from massive audiences including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Instantly, this exotic warfare blockbuster achieved critical acclaim from movie critiques along with box office success. A few years later, however, the film disappeared so thoroughly that Gladys claimed in an interview, the state department never released the film and even she couldn’t manage to get a copy for herself. No attempts had been made vis-à-vis the happenings to Kukan ever since. After being classified as “lost” for seventy years, Robin discovered the last film print from Scott’s timeworn garage in 2009, after a few years’ restoration of the deteriorated tape, she finally brought it back to …show more content…
Accordingly, in the 1930s, Soviet revolutionary theory spread to China and thereby inspired Chinese left-wing film movement. For centuries, Chinese Marxism Cinema was a puppet drama played by the state government. Public believed that the cinema served as an “educational” media, if not a propaganda tool. Soon, the “Neizheng bu (Ministry of Interior)” and “Jiaoyu bu (Ministry of Education)” founded the National Film Censorship Committee (NFCC) to oversee the writing, production, distribution, and censorship of films. This series of actions were undoubtedly a part of a plan to nationalize Chinese film industry. The NFCC broke down eventually due to partisan conflict, but the practice of vertical control over domestic film production continued. Since the establishment of NFCC, Marxism cinema, particularly, wartime film had been more than just the only permitted film genre - it had profoundly redefined the Chinese audiences’ concept of film in
When Scott arrived in China, the whole country was in the lion’s den. Without production crew, he risked his life videotaping his journey with a 16mm handheld camera and great courage. When the completed film print of Kukan first arrived in the U.S. in 1941, it came only with footages (shot in Technicolor) and diegetic sound. The commentary and musical score were added later in the postproduction. Kukan’s first release, after many twists and turns, took place in the New York City and met with a great deal of attention from massive audiences including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Instantly, this exotic warfare blockbuster achieved critical acclaim from movie critiques along with box office success. A few years later, however, the film disappeared so thoroughly that Gladys claimed in an interview, the state department never released the film and even she couldn’t manage to get a copy for herself. No attempts had been made vis-à-vis the happenings to Kukan ever since. After being classified as “lost” for seventy years, Robin discovered the last film print from Scott’s timeworn garage in 2009, after a few years’ restoration of the deteriorated tape, she finally brought it back to …show more content…
Accordingly, in the 1930s, Soviet revolutionary theory spread to China and thereby inspired Chinese left-wing film movement. For centuries, Chinese Marxism Cinema was a puppet drama played by the state government. Public believed that the cinema served as an “educational” media, if not a propaganda tool. Soon, the “Neizheng bu (Ministry of Interior)” and “Jiaoyu bu (Ministry of Education)” founded the National Film Censorship Committee (NFCC) to oversee the writing, production, distribution, and censorship of films. This series of actions were undoubtedly a part of a plan to nationalize Chinese film industry. The NFCC broke down eventually due to partisan conflict, but the practice of vertical control over domestic film production continued. Since the establishment of NFCC, Marxism cinema, particularly, wartime film had been more than just the only permitted film genre - it had profoundly redefined the Chinese audiences’ concept of film in