Films & Schedules - History

“The Rape of Nanking” by Japanese soldiers remains one of China's darkest historical chapters. This luminous black-and-white film uses several small stories to illustrate the bigger picture: man's incredible inhumanity to man.

The atrocities committed by the Japanese army during its occupation of Nanking in December 1937—more than 300,000 were massacred, sexual assault was pandemic, and the city was virtually decimated—remain some of the most harrowing chapters of war in the 20th century. Lu Chuan’s vivid recreation of the “Rape of Nanking” tells the story of a small group of Westerners and Chinese engaged in anguished negotiations with the Japanese to limit the suffering of the civilian population. A series of key vignettes—a young Chinese soldier leads a doomed resistance group; a confused and anguished Japanese private is overwhelmed by the insanity; John Rabe, a German businessman, establishes a safety zone in an attempt to protect the lives of countless Chinese; and the harried secretary of a Nazi official betrays his charges to try and save his family—told with Lu’s burning, black-and-white images, bespeak man’s amazing inhumanity to man.

Filmography: Missing Gun (01), Kekexili Mountain Patrol (04).

135 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian, History.

This riveting, unusual documentary takes a tour of 20th century battlefields through the eyes of those who kept the soldiers fed and fighting: military cooks.

This riveting film opens the door to the secrets of little-known historians to show a dimension of war not found in textbooks or archives. Cooking History presents portraits of various army military cooks from all over Europe who have witnessed the European wars of the 20th century. Their recollections tap into a subjective view of historical events, one that diverges in some respects from conventional beliefs. They take us on a journey through pivotal dates, facts, declarations of war, battles, and peace agreements. The tales they tell convey a sense of life and death in the “war apparatus,” as well as a sense of hope, longing, and survival in the midst of destruction and despair. Kerekes’ look behind “great moments in time” introduces a fresh perspective on European history.

Filmography: About Three Days in Monastary Jasov (94), The Mary-Valery Bridge (00), 66 Seasons (03).

Special Jury Prize, Toronto Hot Docs.

Sponsored by KINK.FM.

88 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Documentary Views, Narrative Feature, French Language, History.

Dawson, Isla 10 focuses on the imprisonment of advisors close to the deposed socialist government of president Salvador Allende. The men were jailed and endured hellish conditions on the island, the world's southernmost concentration camp, for more than a year.

After the military coup in 1973, deposed President Salvador Allende’s closest collaborators and ministers were locked up in a concentration camp on Dawson Island, lying at the western entrance to the Strait of Magellan. They are assigned numbers instead of names. Their lives are spared thanks to pressure from the International Red Cross, but they are not spared from torture and forced labor. Thirty years later, some survivors return to the island and rediscover the place where they learned to survive in such extreme conditions. Miguel Littin, who spent many years living in exile and to whom writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez dedicated his book “Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin,” took inspiration for his drama from the autobiography by Sergio Bitar, one of Allende’s ministers.

Filmography: The Promised Land (71), Letter From Marusia (76), Alsino and the Condor (82), The Shipwreck (94), The Last Man (05).

This year’s Chilean submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

117 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, History.

The life and career of opera star Mei Lenfeng is the subject of Chen Kaige's opulent period drama which traces Mei from childhood through his career-threatening refusal to perform during the occupation.

Chen Kaige’s opulent period drama tells the story of Mei Lanfang (1894–1961), a Peking opera singer of such virtuosity that his fame spread worldwide and his admirers included Charlie Chaplin and Sergei Eisenstein, who filmed him. Descended from an acting family, Mei was so popular he soon became a rival to veteran actor Swallow 13, and the two faced off in a musical “duel” from which Mei emerged the victor. His fame spread and in the late 1920s he even performed on Broadway. But when disaster struck with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Mei’s refusal to sing in public under the occupation proved career threatening. Neatly conveying the fragile social position of opera performers of the early part of the last century, when they were regarded as little better than prostitutes, Chen offers an engaging portrait of Mei’s amazing talent.

Selected Filmography: King of the Children (87), Farewell My Concubine (93), Temptress Moon (96), The Promise (05).

Sponsored by Hotel deLuxe.

147 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Asian, History.

A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

Ulrich Tukur (The Lives of Others) gives a gripping performance as John Rabe, a German industrialist in China who, in 1937, intervened to save an estimated 200,000 Chinese civilians from the rape and slaughter perpetrated by the invading Japanese army. Reluctantly drawn into the relief effort by a coalition of fellow internationals, including an American doctor (Steve Buscemi) and a French school headmistress (Anne Consigny), Rabe and company create a safety zone at Rabe’s Siemens plant where refugees fleeing the Nanking massacre can take shelter. But mounting pressure from the aggressive Japanese commanding officer (Teruyuki Kagawa) pushes their resolve to the breaking point. Based on Rabe’s diaries (published as “The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe”), Gallenberger’s film is the winner of four German Film Awards including Best Film and Best Actor.

Filmography: Tango Berlin (97), Shadows of Time (04).

134 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, History, Literature.

Reporter, a feature documentary about Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the New York Times, reveals the man and his methods, and just how and why real reporting is vital to our democracy, our world-awareness, and our capacity to be a force for good.

Old-fashioned investigative journalists who rely on a unique synthesis of persistence, guile, courage, curiosity, and very thick skins to break the news are increasingly in short supply. One such rare creature is New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. Kristof’s columns have earned him two Pulitzer Prizes, convinced Bill Gates to significantly increase his charitable donations, introduced the world to places like Darfur and arguably changed the tide of history. Filmmaker Metzgar trailed after Kristof when he took off to pay a visit to rebel warlord General Nkunda in the middle of a Congolese jungle in 2007. What Reporter reveals is the dangerously high price of reporting on world events at a time when the translation of complex facts half a world away into meaningful, impelling stories has never been as necessary nor as urgent.

Filmography: The Chances of the World Changing (07), Life. Support. Music (08).

92 Minutes     Digital    

Interests: Documentary Views, Global Classroom, History.

The early life and rise of Benito Mussolini is shown here through the eyes of his first wife, Ida, all but erased from history. Juxtaposing Ida's tragic decline into insanity with Mussolini's phantasmagoric rise to power, Bellocchio fashions a unique glimpse of a little-known aspect of history.

Bellocchio delves into the hidden early life and rise to power of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, as seen through the eyes of his quietly erased first wife. Beginning as a theater actor, journalist, and socialist on the rise, Mussolini meets Australian aristocrat and socialist Ida Dalser in 1914—and she falls hard for him. Their torrid affair compels her to sell everything to help him fund “Il Popolo d’Italia,” the newspaper that would soon become the propaganda tool of the newly formed Fascist party. After Ida gives birth to their son, Mussolini rejects them both. He eventually has them arrested, marries another woman, and dispassionately watches as Ida slips into insanity. Juxtaposing Ida’s tragic story with the phantasmic public one of the grand Il Duce, Bellocchio fashions a unique glimpse into an extraordinary period in Italian history.

Selected Filmography: Fists in the Pocket (65), Leap Into the Void (80), The Butterfly’s Dream (94), The Nanny (98), The Wedding Director (07).

Cultural Partner: Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco.

128 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, History.