Yasukuni (Chinese doc)

[Mark Nornes]

This, from a list on Chinese-Cinema-Digest....

Markus

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'Yasukuni' puts Chinese director on map

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071014/ennew_afp/ 
entertainmentskoreafilmfestivaljapan_071014183539;_ylt=AlDyFUg8cjwtoqiYa 
ELWGD.s0NUE>

by Mathew Scott

Sun Oct 14, 2:35 PM ET


BUSAN, South Korea (AFP) - When Chinese film-maker Li Ying moved to  
Tokyo 18 years ago, he knew nothing about the Yasukuni Shrine. Now  
the controversial site is about to help make his name as an  
international director.

Li's documentary about the shrine, a decade in the making, is at the  
centre of an intense bidding war this week at the Pusan International  
Film Festival, where it has been playing to packed houses.

"Of course I realised the attention my film would get," said the 44- 
year old. "No one wanted to help me get the film made. But now that  
it is completed, it seems that everyone wants to be involved."

His film, simply entitled "Yasukuni," looks at the controversy  
surrounding the shrine, which was built in 1869 and now honours 2.5  
million war dead -- including a handful of top war criminals.

The site has become a rallying point for Japan's far right, while  
across much of Asia it is seen as a terrible symbol of an ugly past  
-- a militarist Japan that was not extinguished until its defeat in  
World War II.

Li had made a handful of previous documentaries, but the emotions  
fuelled by this film's touchy subject matter look set to bring him to  
international attention for the first time.

"Yasukuni" begins by focussing on 90-year-old swordmaker Naoharu  
Kariya, the last tradesman alive who forged the steel-bladed weapons  
that were traditionally used by Japanese military officers.

Worshippers at the shrine believe the blades house the souls of the  
dead who are memorialised there.

"With him I wanted to show that the threat of some traditions dying  
out with time can bring to life forces in society that will fight to  
make sure this may not in fact be the case," Li said.

"The swords and their history are a very powerful thing in Japanese  
society," he said. "It can be hard to understand the emotions the  
shrine brings up unless you actually go there."

The documentary traces what those blades were used for -- including  
the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and a widely reported beheading  
"competition" carried out by two officers who were later executed for  
war crimes.

That fact that their names -- and those of others convicted at the  
trials -- are included at the shrine has become a focal point for  
international protests over the site.

"Yasukuni" also looks at the controversial annual visits by former  
Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and follows the efforts of  
Taiwanese and Korean families whose relatives died fighting for  
Japan, but who want their names removed from the shrine.

But Li also interviews worshippers at the shrine and officials from  
the monastery that runs it, giving a richer view of the meaning of  
Yasukuni and the complex feelings of history and the Japanese past  
that it evokes.

In making the film -- an effort that meant visiting the site at least  
once a week in the 10 years it took to make -- Li often found himself  
at the centre of unwanted attention.

"Once they knew who I was, supporters of the shrine and security  
staff would sometimes chase me, grab my camera and smash my tapes.  
There are a lot of people who did not want this film to be made," he  
said.

Li originally worked for China's state-run CCTV but found he was  
unable to turn his attention to subject matter that interested him.

After leaving, he said he chose to move to Tokyo purely by chance,  
and worked a series of jobs -- including cleaning toilets in Japanese  
public parks -- to get the money he needed to keep filming.

"I didn't think this film would take so long to make," he said.

"But I feel a great love for Japan now and its people and this film I  
think shows that love," said Li. "It is hard to judge anyone, so I  
just wanted to show how many sides there are to stories and to people."

Those long years have now paid off. Li has found a distributor in  
Japan and is in negotiations with firms in South Korea and China to  
get "Yasukuni" into theatres there.

He said he expects the film to open on the mainland to coincide with  
the 70th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre in December.

"I am hoping that people who see it will also look at themselves," he  
said. "What I am hoping to do with this film is look at history and  
help people to realise that there are different sides to every story."



A. M. Nornes
Professor
Department of Screen Arts & Cultures
Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
University of Michigan
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Suite 6111, 202 South Thayer Street
Ann Arbor, MI  48104-1608
Phone:  (734) 647-2094; FAX: x0157
Homepage: www.umich.edu/~amnornes


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