Calendar – Past Event

Join us for the October installment of the Flaherty NYC monthly screening series, where The Robert Flaherty Film Seminar will present the New York Premiere of Lessons of the Blood (2010) directed by James T. Hong and Yin-Ju Chen. The film screened as a work-in-progress at the 2008 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.

There will be a post-screening discussion with the filmmaker James T. Hong, moderated by Chi-hui Yang, programmer of the 2008 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, former director/programmer of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Flaherty NYC is programmed by Penny Lane, an independent filmmaker, video artist, educator and writer.

Join us after the show for happy hour prices on beer and cocktails at The Scratcher (209 E. 5th St.), where we invite the conversation to continue in a more relaxed environment.

Lessons of the Blood (2010, 106 mins)
Stylistically aggressive and often controversial, the films of James T. Hong tackle the things of which we'd rather not speak in ways designed to provoke us to respond. Focusing on the history and victims of Japanese biological warfare, Lessons of the Blood is a meditation on propaganda, historical revisionism, and the legacy of World War II in China. This arresting film highlights how nationalism and the United States have influenced the Sino-Japanese history conflict, and how governments, ideology, and propaganda affect the reception and perception of "historical truth."
 
"With a trove of archival materials, film clips, and interviews, Hong and Chen methodically cut through the contested and explosive history of Japanese atrocities in China (and the United States' complicity) to offer a fascinating--and provocative--exposé of how a disputed history has been written and revised." - Chi-hui Yang
 
James T. Hong is an Asian American filmmaker based in San Francisco, California, whose works tend to focus on philosophical topics and figures and controversial race and class issues. Some of his works include, Die Entnazifizierung des MH(2007, USA/Germany), 731: Two Versions of Hell (2007, USA/China/Taiwan), A Portrait of Sino-American Friendship (2008, China).