Lessons of the Blood
2010 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
1:46:30 minutes
James T. Hong
Lessons of the Blood by James T. Hong pieces together interviews, extensive archival and field research, and TV footage addressing Japan’s use of biological warfare and experimentation on Chinese prisoners during World War II, as well as the revisionism of the Japanese government and Chinese survivors’ attempts to live with this horrific history and to find justice. Co-written, directed, edited and produced with Yin-Ju Chen, whose work is also represented in the Kadist collection, Lessons of the Blood is a meditation on propaganda, the ways in which national mythologies can literally infect and poison the most vulnerable among us, and the legacy of World War II in China, presented through the testimonies of survivors, academics, medical experts, nationalists and activists. The film locates its genesis in the publication of the New History Textbook in Japan in 2000, which infamously glossed over the Japanese Empire’s wartime atrocities, sparking rage and violent protests in China and South Korea in 2005. Using the publication of the textbook as a point of departure, Hong and Chen spent six years — starting in 2004 — following disparate strands of research, including tracking down and interviewing over twenty survivors in China — many of whom lived in highly inaccessible, rural enclaves, spoke local dialects rather than Mandarin, and were locatable only by visiting these villages in person and forming relationships within the local community. Lessons of the Blood also acts as a legal document, as Hong and Chen’s research and documentation were used to aid the survivors after an initial unsuccessful lawsuit against the Japanese government. Because the film spans a period of six years, it subsequently chronicles — through the eyes of ordinary people left behind by both Chinese and Japanese nationalistic agendas — the changes in a rapidly changing China, which chose to remain silent about its Pacific neighbor’s wartime atrocities for many decades because of its economic dependency on Japan.
James T. Hong is an Asian-American filmmaker and artist whose works focus on controversial race and class issues, and historical conflicts in Asia. His film, 731: Two Versions of Hell (2007), was awarded the Best World Documentary Award at the Jihlava International Festival in 2007. Other film productions include Lessons of the Blood (2010) and The Turner Film Diaries (2012).
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
arquivo mangue
2022o que diriam as pedras a marte? [What would the stones say to Mars?] is a sculptural work consisting of two parts by arquivo mangue...
© » 1854 PHOTOGRAPHY
The Desi Boys will show you Kolkata from the streets - 1854 Photography Subscribe latest Agenda Bookshelf Projects Industry Insights magazine Explore ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW Explore Stories latest agenda bookshelf projects theme in focus industry insights magazine ANY ANSWERS FINE ART IN THE STUDIO PARENTHOOD ART & ACTIVISM FOR THE RECORD LANDSCAPE PICTURE THIS CREATIVE BRIEF GENDER & SEXUALITY MIXED MEDIA POWER & EMPOWERMENT DOCUMENTARY HOME & BELONGING ON LOCATION PORTRAITURE DECADE OF CHANGE HUMANITY & TECHNOLOGY OPINION THEN & NOW All images from Desi Boys © Soham Gupta Soham Gupta made his name capturing Kolkata’s unseen poor...
© » KADIST
Alicia McCarthy
2010A painting reminiscent of a certain “naive primitivism,” Untitled (Colors) and Untitled (Ghost) are representative of McCarthy’s work...
© » KADIST
Paul McCarthy
2008Memory Mistake of the Eldridge Cleaver Pants was created for the show Paul McCarthy’s Low Life Slow Life Part 1 , held at California College of the Arts’s Wattis Institute in 2008 and curated by McCarthy himself...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Malaysia mulls on Jawi calligraphy; racism in Singapore | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles File photo: Bernama August 8, 2019 ArtsEquator Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
À Ố Làng Phố: Less trick, more treat in Vietnamese bamboo circus | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Nguyen The Duong March 2, 2020 The following review is made possible through a Critical Residency programme supported by By Nabilah Said (730 words, 6-minute read) You go into a circus performance with certain expectations...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Finding Ratna Asmara and the Herstory of Indonesian Cinema | ArtsEquator Skip to content The tale of a pioneering woman Indonesian filmmaker converges with the mission of a group of women film researchers, as Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu highlights how archives and historical records often render some stories invisible...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Reconstructing the Virtual in “Frogman” | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Courtesy of Arts House Limited June 14, 2019 By Shawn Chua (1,088 words, 6-minute read) Having securely fastened the headgear, I am submerged into the virtual world of Frogman...