Premiere Jan. 25, 2008 at Landmark Theater, Kendall Square, Cambridge

 
Documentary    


Audio OFF

 « Produced by Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs  «
« Directed by Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman «
 
« Screenplay/Story by Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman «
 
« Associate producers : Joann Jacobs, Dylan Nelson, Katie Strand, Izumi Tanaka, Makiko Wakai  «
Casts:
Hugo Armstrong, Rosalind Chao, Stephen Dorff, John Getz, Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Michelle Krusiec, Leah Liang, Chris Mulkey, Jürgen Prochnow, Sonny Saito, Graham Sibley, Mark Valley, Robert Wu
 

 ►►► 2009 Nanking won Peabody Award   more ...


"Any profit from the film will go toward creating a foundation for the victims and their offspring." Ted Leonsis, in a interview with Washington Post , March 31, 2007.

Nanking, the film features interviews with Chinese survivors and Japanese soldiers, along with pictures, letters, and diaries read by actors portraying westerners who helped save more than 200,000 Chinese refugees in Nanking, currently known as Nanjing(南京), in 1937.

The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops occupied the then capital of China. More than 300,000 Chinese were believed murdered and thousands of women raped.

"
I felt that the massacre had largely been ignored by history. I hope we can tell people the truth," said Bill Guttentag, who shot the film with partner Dan Sturman, earlier this month in Shanghai.

The idea came from
Ted Leonsis, vice chairman of America Online, who came across an obituary of a young writer named Iris Chang(張純如) who wrote the best-selling book The Rape of Nanking.

Leonsis bought the book and was startled to discover a tragedy he had never heard of. He decided to use two million U.S. dollars of his own money to shoot a documentary film on the Nanking Massacre, and invited the
Academy Award-winning writer/director team of Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman to co-direct it.

Leonsis revealed his motivation in his blog: "
As someone who has always believed in the power of goodness, I wanted to do something to share this story with others, and so I put together a research and production team, and decided to fund this movie and serve as its producer."

Guttentag adopted the angle of a handful of brave westerners who worked in horrific circumstances to save the lives of several hundred thousand Chinese civilians.

Guttentag and his crew visited six countries over a period of eight months to collect video, audio and written materials.

The crew interviewed 240 Japanese soldiers still alive, six of whom appeared in the film, the youngest being almost 90 years old.

Guttentag also interviewed 30 Nanjing massacre survivors. He was still haunted by the story of Chang Zhiqiang(
常志強), who was only 9 years old in 1937. After his mother was killed by a Japanese soldier, he still remembered his baby brother trying to suck the breast of his mother covered in blood.

The film has received numerous plaudits including an accolade from Reuters who called it a "
beautifully crafted film...(that) honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking."

abridged from http://www.bjreview.com.cn/movies/txt/2007-07/23/content_70066.htm

Premiere Jan. 25, 2008 at Landmark Theater, Kendall Square, Cambridge
For all inquiries or questions, please send email to
info@nanking1937.com


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