A filmmaker sets out to uncover the forgotten story of a Chinese-American filmmaker who was behind a lost Oscar-winning documentary, and discovers much more.
Seeking Asian-American film role models, Hawaiian filmmaker Robin Lung learned of the little-remembered author, actress, and lecturer, Li Ling-Ai, herself Hawaiian. Ling-Ai was involved in the production of KUKAN, a 1941 documentary about China’s struggle against Japan prior to WWII – a film recognized with an honorary Oscar before the Academy had a Best Documentary category, and, sadly the sole documentary Oscar winner for which there were no known existing film prints or even video copies. In the process of tracking down information about Ling-Ai, and clarifying her role on the film, which was credited to Rey Scott, a freelance photographer who had never made a film before, Lung manages to do what archivists had not been able to – find a copy of the lost KUKAN! Her documentary tells the story of that discovery, and reintroduces Scott, and, most importantly, Ling-Ai to the world.
With the film’s Kickstarter campaign at over 70% of its goal, it seems likely that Lung will reach her $16,000 for final production and early post financing by the deadline in just over two weeks, but it’s certain she would welcome contributions beyond that target. To keep updated on the project, join her mailing list on the film’s website.
While I’ve written previously about my wariness when filmmakers are in their own films, and maintain that concern here, the underlying story of Lung’s film has me extremely intrigued. Early documentary Oscar winners (or nominees, even) are very rarely seen – some, no doubt, for good reason, given the topics and approaches taken in the pre-cinema verité era – so these films are not typically among the non-fiction canon, and could certainly bear exploration. With a film like KUKAN, and with a figure like Ling-Ai, that exploration will shed insight on old Hollywood’s complicated relationship with questions around race and nation. But to add to this the discovery of an obscure Academy Award-winning that was considered lost, and Lung makes cinema studies nerds like me swoon.
what (not) to doc 