Browse Titles - 20 results
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731: Two Versions of Hell
produced by James T. Hong (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2007), 28 mins
This is a multi-award winning documentary about Unit 731, Japan's secret World War II biological and chemical weapons facility in the Chinese town of Harbin where biological weapons were developed during the Japanese Occupation. The film uses the same footage as seen from two points of view. The first half gives t...
Sample
produced by James T. Hong (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2007), 28 mins
Description
This is a multi-award winning documentary about Unit 731, Japan's secret World War II biological and chemical weapons facility in the Chinese town of Harbin where biological weapons were developed during the Japanese Occupation. The film uses the same footage as seen from two points of view. The first half gives the perspective of the Chinese government and describes the horrors and atrocities that occurred during World War II at the facility. Th...
This is a multi-award winning documentary about Unit 731, Japan's secret World War II biological and chemical weapons facility in the Chinese town of Harbin where biological weapons were developed during the Japanese Occupation. The film uses the same footage as seen from two points of view. The first half gives the perspective of the Chinese government and describes the horrors and atrocities that occurred during World War II at the facility. The second half, using almost the exact same footage, describes Unit 731 from the Japanese revisionist perspective which is largely supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Although its cruel experiments on living people produced thousands of casualties, this activity is still denied by a number of Japanese historians and politicians. Generational change has contributed to the escalating history problem between Japan, China, and the two Koreas. Not only were the majority of Asians born and educated after the war; as a result of the education they received in their own countries, their memories and ideas of the war have become more divergent. Usage of the same shots in both parts of the film ironically demonstrates the potential to misuse film images for political purposes. College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
James T. Hong
Date Published / Released
2007
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
General Context: Human Rights Violations, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, Genocide, Prisoner of war camps, Prisoners of war, Propaganda, Torture, War crimes, History curriculums, War, Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905, Great Leap Forward, China, 1958, War and Violence, Medicine, Politics & Policy, History, Origins, Documentation of Crimes, World History, Chinese, Japanese, 20th Century in World H...
General Context: Human Rights Violations, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, Genocide, Prisoner of war camps, Prisoners of war, Propaganda, Torture, War crimes, History curriculums, War, Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905, Great Leap Forward, China, 1958, War and Violence, Medicine, Politics & Policy, History, Origins, Documentation of Crimes, World History, Chinese, Japanese, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
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Copyright © 2007. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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The Cross and the Star: Jews, Christians and the Holocaust
directed by John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995; produced by John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995 (New York, NY: First Run Features, 1992), 53 mins
The Cross and the Star finds disheartening echoes of anti-Semitism in the otherwise profound, lyrical Gospel of St. John, the sermons of St. Augustine, the writings of Martin Luther and in the voices of the Crusaders and the Spanish Inquisitors -- all of which may have helped sow the ideological seeds that develop...
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directed by John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995; produced by John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995 (New York, NY: First Run Features, 1992), 53 mins
Description
The Cross and the Star finds disheartening echoes of anti-Semitism in the otherwise profound, lyrical Gospel of St. John, the sermons of St. Augustine, the writings of Martin Luther and in the voices of the Crusaders and the Spanish Inquisitors -- all of which may have helped sow the ideological seeds that developed into Nazism.
Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995, Chris Clausen
Author / Creator
John J. Michalczyk, fl. 1995
Date Published / Released
1992
Publisher
First Run Features
Speaker / Narrator
Chris Clausen
Topic / Theme
Internment camps, Antisemitism, War crimes, Jewish people, Judaism, Churches, Christianity, Holocaust, 1939-1945, World War II, 1939-1945, War and Violence, World History, Indians (Asian), Maasai, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
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Copyright © 2012. Used by permission of First Run Features.
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End of Empire
directed by Guo Fangfang; produced by Mashizan Masjum, fl. 2004, Four Square Productions and Crest Communications Production (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2002, originally published 2001), 1 hour 5 mins
This film tells the harrowing story of the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1941-45. Archival film as well as fascinating interviews with two historians, Professors A. Jayathurai and Brian Farrell, relate the tragedy of this important theater of war. But it is the story of Alexander Colburn a young Scotsman w...
Sample
directed by Guo Fangfang; produced by Mashizan Masjum, fl. 2004, Four Square Productions and Crest Communications Production (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2002, originally published 2001), 1 hour 5 mins
Description
This film tells the harrowing story of the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1941-45. Archival film as well as fascinating interviews with two historians, Professors A. Jayathurai and Brian Farrell, relate the tragedy of this important theater of war. But it is the story of Alexander Colburn a young Scotsman who had recently signed on for a four-year stint as a pharmacist in the bustling colonial city that gives the dramatic history a persona...
This film tells the harrowing story of the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1941-45. Archival film as well as fascinating interviews with two historians, Professors A. Jayathurai and Brian Farrell, relate the tragedy of this important theater of war. But it is the story of Alexander Colburn a young Scotsman who had recently signed on for a four-year stint as a pharmacist in the bustling colonial city that gives the dramatic history a personal dimension. Instead of enjoying a brilliant career in Singapore, Colburn witnessed its swift and violent end, as well as the symbolic end of the British Empire. In the 1930s it was widely believed that Singapore was an impregnable fortress. When the well-trained and equipped Japanese invaded Northern Malaya in 1941 shortly after Pearl Harbor, they easily defeated the under-prepared Indian, New Zealand and Australian troops who had joined the British there. When British officials realized Singapore would fall they evacuated the colonials, leaving the Chinese, Indian and Malay populations to fend for themselves. Throughout this Colburn worked as a medical volunteer, cleaning up the bodies left from Japanese bombing. Two British battleships were sunk with nine hundred British sailors lost and the British surrendered after six weeks. Under the Japanese occupation, one hundred thousand prisoners of war were arrested and imprisoned or executed in six weeks. Colburn was taken prisoner by the Japanese and spent four years in horrendous conditions, with almost no food or medicine available. He used his experience as a pharmacist to help his fellow inmates as much as he could. It is estimated that twenty to thirty thousand people perished in captivity. As Prof. Jayathurai says, "Churchill gave up Malaya for the defense of Europe. This was the end of the British Empire; everything after that was borrowed time." College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Mashizan Masjum, fl. 2004, Four Square Productions, Crest Communications Production, Eva Petryshen
Author / Creator
Guo Fangfang
Date Published / Released
2001, 2002
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Speaker / Narrator
Eva Petryshen
Topic / Theme
Air raids, Bombardment, Invasions, Massacres, Lines of defense, Military maneuvers, Military occupation, Military strategy, Prisoner of war camps, Prisoners of war, Torture, Civil defense, Japanese invasion of Singapore, February 8-15, 1942, War and Violence, World History, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2002. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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Ethnic Cleansing: The Media and World Opinion
produced by NHK International Inc. (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2001), 55 mins
This riveting documentary follows step by step the persuasive media offensive waged by a powerful public relations firm for their client in the Balkan War in 1992. It shows how the key phrase "ethnic cleansing" was used in a media campaign by the firm Ruder Finn. There, James W. Harff orchestrated the campaign tha...
Sample
produced by NHK International Inc. (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2001), 55 mins
Description
This riveting documentary follows step by step the persuasive media offensive waged by a powerful public relations firm for their client in the Balkan War in 1992. It shows how the key phrase "ethnic cleansing" was used in a media campaign by the firm Ruder Finn. There, James W. Harff orchestrated the campaign that implied "ethnic cleansing" was a human rights violation harking back to the Nazi era. This key phrase was planted in the media around...
This riveting documentary follows step by step the persuasive media offensive waged by a powerful public relations firm for their client in the Balkan War in 1992. It shows how the key phrase "ethnic cleansing" was used in a media campaign by the firm Ruder Finn. There, James W. Harff orchestrated the campaign that implied "ethnic cleansing" was a human rights violation harking back to the Nazi era. This key phrase was planted in the media around the world with the certainty that this euphemism for genocide would jolt the West’s collective memory of past atrocities to lead world opinion against Serbia. It worked.
Harff describes his strategy: how he pursued print and TV journalists, and finally the White House. He used the photogenic Bosnian Foreign Minister, Dr. Haris Silajdzic to make Bosnia’s case more compelling. Serbian leaders including the former prime minister Milan Panic, admit making serious errors in putting forth their side of the story.
So successful was Harff’s campaign to vilify Serbia that it became the first nation ever to be expelled by the United Nations. Following that, the UN set up a tribunal in The Hague to examine war crimes.
"The effect of the PR company was …to implant this very black-and-white picture in the minds of the public…" says Sylvia Poggioli of NPR. And Margaret Tutwiler, former State Department spokesperson says that none of the parties were totally innocent. The documentary concludes "the PR industry is poised to write the history of the 21st Century." College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
NHK International Inc.
Date Published / Released
2001
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
History curriculums, Journalism, Civil war, Nationalism, War crimes, Yugoslav Wars, 1992-1995, Humanities
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2001. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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Fading Traces
directed by Walo Deuber; produced by Rose Marie Schneider, Doc Productions (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2001, originally published 1998), 1 hour 7 mins
The western Ukraine was once home to the largest Jewish community that ever existed. Five million Jews living there had a rich culture, with Jewish music abounding and a thriving Yiddish theater. All this disappeared with the German invasion of Russia in 1941 and the tragic events of the Holocaust. Fading Traces a...
Sample
directed by Walo Deuber; produced by Rose Marie Schneider, Doc Productions (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 2001, originally published 1998), 1 hour 7 mins
Description
The western Ukraine was once home to the largest Jewish community that ever existed. Five million Jews living there had a rich culture, with Jewish music abounding and a thriving Yiddish theater. All this disappeared with the German invasion of Russia in 1941 and the tragic events of the Holocaust. Fading Traces artfully weaves the words of writers such as Rose Auslander, Isaak Babel, Martin Buber, David Kahane, as well as others, with the accoun...
The western Ukraine was once home to the largest Jewish community that ever existed. Five million Jews living there had a rich culture, with Jewish music abounding and a thriving Yiddish theater. All this disappeared with the German invasion of Russia in 1941 and the tragic events of the Holocaust. Fading Traces artfully weaves the words of writers such as Rose Auslander, Isaak Babel, Martin Buber, David Kahane, as well as others, with the accounts and experiences of those still living. The film seeks out the traces of this lost world and brings it to life. Since the opening of the Soviet Union, this historic land is once more accessible. Fertile countryside, ancient tombstones, austere synagogues, train stations, markets, cobble stone streets - the fabric of daily life, as well as the dark forbidding sites of mass graveyards. Here is a past that is all but wiped out, except when excavated deftly and respectfully in Fading Traces. College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Rose Marie Schneider, Doc Productions
Author / Creator
Walo Deuber
Date Published / Released
1998, 2001
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
Antisemitism, Internment camps, Jewish people, Massacres, Military occupation, Property destruction, War crimes, Religion, World War II, 1939-1945, Soviet Union, 1922-1991, Family and Culture, Race and Gender, Religion and Belief Systems, War and Violence, World History, Jews, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2001. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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Fragments of Isabella
directed by Ronan O'Leary, 1959-; produced by Michael Scott and Ronan O'Leary, 1959- (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1996), 1 hour 13 mins
Finally available from the festival circuit, this riveting film based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book by Isabella Leitner, recounts the true story of a young Hungarian Jew and her sisters interned in Auschwitz, their struggle to survive, and their daring escape from a death march to Bergen Belsen. In 1944, Is...
Sample
directed by Ronan O'Leary, 1959-; produced by Michael Scott and Ronan O'Leary, 1959- (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1996), 1 hour 13 mins
Description
Finally available from the festival circuit, this riveting film based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book by Isabella Leitner, recounts the true story of a young Hungarian Jew and her sisters interned in Auschwitz, their struggle to survive, and their daring escape from a death march to Bergen Belsen. In 1944, Isabella and her family were arrested and deported by cattlecar to Auschwitz where they encountered Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called "Ang...
Finally available from the festival circuit, this riveting film based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book by Isabella Leitner, recounts the true story of a young Hungarian Jew and her sisters interned in Auschwitz, their struggle to survive, and their daring escape from a death march to Bergen Belsen. In 1944, Isabella and her family were arrested and deported by cattlecar to Auschwitz where they encountered Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called "Angel of Death." He condemned Isabella's mother and youngest sister to death "by a flip of his thumb," but Isabella, her brother and three remaining sisters were spared to suffer until their miraculous escape. The leit-motif of this extraordinary film is love not hate, the love that sustained Isabella and her sisters through the horrors of the Holocaust. As performed by the luminous Gabrielle Reidy of Dublin's Abbey Theater, this is a lyrical testament to the soul of a young woman yearning to transcend her fate. Isabella Leitner is available for speaking engagements College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Michael Scott, Ronan O'Leary, 1959-
Author / Creator
Ronan O'Leary, 1959-
Date Published / Released
1996
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
Antisemitism, Deportation, Emotions and feelings, Family, Internment camps, Jewish people, Massacres, Holocaust, 1939-1945, Family and Culture, Race and Gender, Religion and Belief Systems, War and Violence, World History, Jews, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Tiananmen Square, June 4th, 1989
directed by Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990; produced by Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990, J.B. Pictures, Ltd. (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1991), 13 mins
With startling immediacy, this short film captures the shock and horror the Chinese students experienced when government troops opened fire on them in Tiananmen Square. We hear students rallying for democracy just moments before they were to be gunned down. Skillfully compiled from still photographs smuggled out o...
Sample
directed by Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990; produced by Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990, J.B. Pictures, Ltd. (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1991), 13 mins
Description
With startling immediacy, this short film captures the shock and horror the Chinese students experienced when government troops opened fire on them in Tiananmen Square. We hear students rallying for democracy just moments before they were to be gunned down. Skillfully compiled from still photographs smuggled out of China, eyewitness accounts, and news sound tracks, it recreates this tragic event in Chinese history. This unforgettable document wil...
With startling immediacy, this short film captures the shock and horror the Chinese students experienced when government troops opened fire on them in Tiananmen Square. We hear students rallying for democracy just moments before they were to be gunned down. Skillfully compiled from still photographs smuggled out of China, eyewitness accounts, and news sound tracks, it recreates this tragic event in Chinese history. This unforgettable document will remind Americans that the dream of democracy does not come without sacrifice. From high school students studying world events to "Asia watchers" at universities, this film is a must. High School College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990, J.B. Pictures, Ltd.
Author / Creator
Jocelyne Benzakin, fl. 1990
Date Published / Released
1991
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
Political demonstrations, Massacres, Rebellions, Students, History curriculums, Politics, Tiananmen Square Massacre, Beijing, China, April-June 1989, Political and Social Movements, World History, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1991. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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Heinrich Himmler: Anatomy of a Mass Murderer
directed by Michael Kloft, 1961-; produced by First Run Features (New York, NY: First Run Features, 2008), 52 mins
orn into a Bavarian bourgeois family, Heinrich Himmler became the driving force behind the indescribable crimes that mde the Naze regime so unique in modern history. An early henchman of Hitler’s, Himmler turned a small gang of things into a monstrous pseudo-religious order and widely feared instrument of terro...
Sample
directed by Michael Kloft, 1961-; produced by First Run Features (New York, NY: First Run Features, 2008), 52 mins
Description
orn into a Bavarian bourgeois family, Heinrich Himmler became the driving force behind the indescribable crimes that mde the Naze regime so unique in modern history. An early henchman of Hitler’s, Himmler turned a small gang of things into a monstrous pseudo-religious order and widely feared instrument of terror – the SS.
As a compliant servant to his Führer, Himmler controlled an economic empire in which hundreds of thousands of slave wo...
orn into a Bavarian bourgeois family, Heinrich Himmler became the driving force behind the indescribable crimes that mde the Naze regime so unique in modern history. An early henchman of Hitler’s, Himmler turned a small gang of things into a monstrous pseudo-religious order and widely feared instrument of terror – the SS.
As a compliant servant to his Führer, Himmler controlled an economic empire in which hundreds of thousands of slave workers were exploited and extermination camps murdered millions. Using rare archival materials and interviews, this film biography shows how – and why – Himmler became a “monster of history.”
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
First Run Features
Author / Creator
Michael Kloft, 1961-
Date Published / Released
2008
Publisher
First Run Features
Person Discussed
Heinrich Himmler, 1900-1945
Topic / Theme
War crimes, Internment camps, World War II, 1939-1945, Holocaust, 1939-1945, War and Violence, World History, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2011. Used by permission of First Run Features.
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Howling with the Angels
directed by Jean Bodon, 1949-; produced by First Run Features (New York, NY: First Run Features, 2006), 43 mins
When Hitler's Army marched into Czechoslovakia, a young Czech army captain joined the Resistance. But he had a secret no one knew...until now.
In March 1939, Hitler's army marched into Prague, Czechoslovakia. Jan Bodon, a young captain in the Czech Army - who also happened to be blond-haired, blue-eyed and fluen...
Sample
directed by Jean Bodon, 1949-; produced by First Run Features (New York, NY: First Run Features, 2006), 43 mins
Description
When Hitler's Army marched into Czechoslovakia, a young Czech army captain joined the Resistance. But he had a secret no one knew...until now.
In March 1939, Hitler's army marched into Prague, Czechoslovakia. Jan Bodon, a young captain in the Czech Army - who also happened to be blond-haired, blue-eyed and fluent in German - was 'asked' to join the Nazis. He promptly fled and joined the Czech Resistance Movement instead, and was selected to hel...
When Hitler's Army marched into Czechoslovakia, a young Czech army captain joined the Resistance. But he had a secret no one knew...until now.
In March 1939, Hitler's army marched into Prague, Czechoslovakia. Jan Bodon, a young captain in the Czech Army - who also happened to be blond-haired, blue-eyed and fluent in German - was 'asked' to join the Nazis. He promptly fled and joined the Czech Resistance Movement instead, and was selected to help in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the 'Butcher of Prague.'
In this powerful documentary directed by Jan's son, Jean Bodon uncovers the truth not only about Jan's wartime experiences, but also discovers that his father was secretly a Jew in a country which underwent one of the largest extermination campaigns of the war.
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
First Run Features
Author / Creator
Jean Bodon, 1949-
Date Published / Released
2006
Publisher
First Run Features
Person Discussed
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich, 1904-1942, Jan Bodon, Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945
Topic / Theme
Assassinations, Rebellions, War crimes, Internment camps, Jewish people, World War II, 1939-1945, Holocaust, 1939-1945, War and Violence, World History, Asians, Sierra Leonean, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 2011. Used by permission of First Run Features.
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In the Name of the Emperor
directed by Christine Choy, 1953-; produced by Christine Choy, 1953- and Nancy Tong (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1997), 53 mins
This is the only American documentary film to examine the Rape of Nanjing, December 13, 1937, when the Japanese Imperial troops marched into this city in China. In just six weeks they murdered 300,000 civilians, and systematically raped and killed thousands of women. Today, the Japanese government continues to den...
Sample
directed by Christine Choy, 1953-; produced by Christine Choy, 1953- and Nancy Tong (New York, NY: Filmakers Library, 1997), 53 mins
Description
This is the only American documentary film to examine the Rape of Nanjing, December 13, 1937, when the Japanese Imperial troops marched into this city in China. In just six weeks they murdered 300,000 civilians, and systematically raped and killed thousands of women. Today, the Japanese government continues to deny it ever happened. In the Name of the Emperor is a monument to the suffering of the Chinese at the hands of the Japanese during World...
This is the only American documentary film to examine the Rape of Nanjing, December 13, 1937, when the Japanese Imperial troops marched into this city in China. In just six weeks they murdered 300,000 civilians, and systematically raped and killed thousands of women. Today, the Japanese government continues to deny it ever happened. In the Name of the Emperor is a monument to the suffering of the Chinese at the hands of the Japanese during World War II. It weaves together rare footage of the Japanese occupation, diary entries from Americans who were there, and the eyewitness accounts of surviving Japanese soldiers. Especially unique is the newly discovered film footage of the massacre shot by John McGee, an American missionary who was living in Nanjing. This footage was part of the testimony at the war crimes trial, but has never been seen until now. The Nanjing Massacre was the impetus for the Japanese system of "comfort stations" or military brothels in occupied territories to stem the tide of venereal disease. Included is an interview with a Korean "comfort woman" who speaks openly about her sexual servitude. These war crimes continues to disrupt diplomatic relations between Japan, the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan to this day. The horrors captured in this ground-breaking documentary reminds us of the exploitation and suffering of women, and indeed all civilians during war time. There are frightening parallels to the atrocities committed in Bosnia and Rwanda today. College Adult
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Field of Study
World History
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Christine Choy, 1953-, Nancy Tong
Author / Creator
Christine Choy, 1953-
Date Published / Released
1997
Publisher
Filmakers Library
Topic / Theme
Nanking Massacre (1937-1938), Invasions, Massacres, Military occupation, Soldiers, War crimes, History curriculums, War, Sexual assault, Nanking Massacre, 1937-1938, War and Violence, History, Documentation of Crimes, World History, Japanese, Chinese, 20th Century in World History (1914--2000)
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Filmakers Library. All rights reserved.
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