China Daily, December 13th Today is the fifth National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, and it is also the 81st anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. As time goes by, the number of witnesses and survivors who have experienced that hell on earth is decreasing year by year. But the truth of history will not be erased by time. Today, more and more people in the world are beginning to understand the Nanjing Massacre, and more and more people are studying, excavating and displaying this heavy but important period with respect and reflection. A history that is remembered. "The Girl and The Picture", a film released this year and recently nominated for the International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary Short, is one of them.
"Leave these to the next generation and educate the next generation"
Screenshot of the film "Girls and Images"
"Girls and Images" is 39 minutes long and is produced by the Holocaust Foundation of the University of Southern California. The film tells the story of the old man Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre.
In December 1937, the Japanese invaders caused a tragic massacre. Xia Shuqin, who was 8 years old at the time, and her 4-year-old sister witnessed the massacre of seven members of their family by the Japanese army. Xia Shuqin herself was stabbed three times by the Japanese bayonet and survived. . John, an American missionary living in Nanjing at that time? Ma Ji often took the risk to shoot with a camera, and the scenes of the surviving sisters Xia Shuqin's aftermath were also permanently recorded.
American director Vanessa? Roth and Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, on the set of "Girls and Images". Image source: Xinhuanet
Famous American female director and Oscar winner Vanessa? Roth wrote the script and directed the film. Roth comes from an artistic family, his father Eric? Roth won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Forrest Gump" and Roth himself won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for "Freeheld."
Roth said in an interview with American media: "This film was shot for about six months. By focusing on the relationship between Ms. Xia and her grandchildren, the film emphasizes the intergenerational connection of the memory of this atrocity. "It conveys the importance of the family and connects their families to different cultures and continents."
Luo Si said that there have been many interviews and videos about Xia Shuqin in the past, but he chose a new angle, that is, this one. The intergenerational inheritance of a period of history. She hopes that through her photography, she can tell the next generation what happened to the elderly from a more human perspective.
The University of Southern California The Holocaust Foundation is dedicated to the historical research and preservation of information on the Holocaust that occurred around the world. In 2016, the foundation invited Xia Shuqin to Los Angeles, the United States, to participate in the "New Dimensions of Testimony" project in recording the oral history of the Nanjing Massacre. "We hope to pass this on to the next generation and educate the next generation," said project director Kia? Hayes previously said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency .
"Let Western audiences know more about this tragic history"
Not long ago, this film was nominated for the Best Documentary Short Film Award at the International Documentary Association Award. Image source: Screenshot of US website report
Many of the main creators of this documentary knew little about the Nanjing Massacre before filming this film. Roth had never heard of the Nanjing Massacre before being asked to direct the film. Livio, the film’s film editor? Sanchez also said in a previous interview that he was completely ignorant of the history of the Nanjing Massacre when he first participated in the work of the film. "Not many people in the West know about the history of the Nanjing Massacre. We hope that Western audiences can learn more about this tragic history. Only by remembering the tragedies of the past can we prevent history from repeating itself," Sanchez said.
John? Maggie’s grandson Chris? Maggie was also invited to participate in the filming of this documentary. In recent years, Chris? Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Ma Ji has been restoring the truth of the Nanjing Massacre to the world in his own way. He also said that many Westerners still know nothing about the Nanjing Massacre.
The documentary "Girls and Images" has played a role in letting more people understand the truth of the Nanjing Massacre to a certain extent.According to US media reports, "Girls and Images" has been screened at many film festivals around the world and won multiple awards. At the American Documentary Film Festival, "Girls and Images" won the "American Special Jury Award". Not long ago, this film was nominated for the International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary Short. In addition, the film will also be available on video playback platforms such as Netflix, so more Western audiences will be able to watch it directly.
They helped the world better understand the truth about the Nanjing Massacre
John? Maggie. Image source: Yale University
John? John Magee was born in the United States in 1884 and preached at Daoshengtang Church in Nanjing from 1912 to 1940. During the Nanjing Massacre, he often risked his life to secretly film the Japanese atrocities in Nanjing with a 16mm camera. At that time, the Japanese army strictly controlled the movements of foreigners, and photography and filming were absolutely prohibited. On December 21, 1937, Ma Ji photographed many citizens who were murdered by the Japanese army at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital. Some of them became witnesses against the Nanjing Massacre. One of the patients he photographed who was being treated was Li Xiuying who was 6 months pregnant. She was stabbed 37 times because she resisted rape by Japanese soldiers. Li Xiuying, who survived the war, went to Japan several times to participate in peace rallies and accuse the Japanese army of atrocities. Magee shot 4 reels of film, with a total time of 105 minutes. These real shots are the only dynamic images of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese invaders that have survived to this day, and have become irrefutable evidence exposing the atrocities of the Japanese army.
"The Rape of Nanking" book cover.
In 1997, the book "The Rape of Nanking" (The Rape of Nanking) by Chinese-American female writer and historian Chang Chunru was published in the United States. Soon after, it was on the "New York Times" bestseller list, and was later translated. Into more than 10 languages, its influence spreads all over the world. During the writing process, Zhang Chunru went to Nanjing, Shanghai and other places to conduct face-to-face evidence collection conversations with massacre survivors, which lasted three years. She single-handedly made the history of this "forgotten massacre" known to more people. However, she also suffered from depression and eventually ended her young life with a bullet at the age of 36.
Matsuoka Tamaki has always been committed to presenting the historical truth to the world. Image source: Xinhuanet
Tamaki Matsuoka is an ordinary Japanese woman who works as a primary school teacher. Because she was dissatisfied with the history textbooks distributed by the Japanese government when providing "peace education" to students, she went to China alone to investigate. From then on, she began her private investigation of the Nanjing Massacre. Over the past 30 years, she has tracked down and recorded the experiences of hundreds of Holocaust survivors and veterans of the Japanese invasion of China, and published their testimonies into books and films to present the truth to the world.
(Editors: Liu Shidong, Qi Lei, Text Comprehensive Xinhuanet, etc.)
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