Finding Kukan: A local mystery

Tucked away in dark musky basement laid one of the last known copies of a historic documentary that depicted war torn China in the late 30’s. This film wasn’t just one of your grandmas old 8mm films this was the lost Academy Award winning film Kukan. Why hadn’t anyone ever heard about Kukan and why was this the last known copy? Robin Lung creator of Finding Kukan had these same questions after her preliminary research in 2009.

Local filmmaker and mystery enthusiast Robin Lung, began a journey to create a film about an inspirational woman in early 2009. On November 5, 2016 at 6:15pm she got to sit with eager moviegoers at the world premiere of Finding Kukan at Dole Cannery for Hawaii International Film Festivals 36th year. The film sold out days before the screening and ticket holders lined up outside Dole Cannery hours before the screening to ensure the best seat in the house. Finding Kukan is a historical and heart felt search for a lost Oscar-winning film “Kukan”. Lung had been on a search for an inspirational woman to follow, but she never knew the whirlwind she would be taken on after learning about Li Ling Ai, who was a Chinese American Play writer from Oahu, Hawaii. Lung being of Chinese descent herself knew just then that Li Ling Ai would be her inspiration.

Li Ling Ai was a social lite living in Hawaii, and after seeing the destruction that was taking place in China in the late 1930’s she knew she wanted to do something to help. Li Ling Ai later got her pilots license to help fly relieve supplies to Chinese aid workers. Feeling her contributions of bringing attention to the destruction that was taking place in China by Japans invasion was not helping Li Ling Ai had a bigger plan. She wanted to go to China and film what was happening and bring it back to America to show what was happening to her people since the US was staying neutral during the first half of the war. Not knowing anything about film production she enlisted the help of a local cameraman who worked at the Advertiser Rey Scott. Scott had never used a motion picture camera and was just a photojournalist from the Midwest working at the Advertiser in Honolulu Hawaii. The pair had no financial backing from Hollywood or the

Government and the odds were stacked against this unlikely duo to succeed. Li Ling Ai financially funded the project and ensured Scott had the necessary contacts and equipment to film the documentary in China. When the film had its initial screening in New York City on June 23, 1941 the United States was still holding a position of neutrality when it came to foreign conflicts. This film quickly got attention and media coverage by all major news outlets including the New York Times. After news of this film made it all the way to the White House, President Roosevelt invited Rey Scoot and Li Ling Ai to show their movie at the White House. After a great reception of the film it later went on to win an Academy Award for the first full-color feature length film. After the end of WWII and the communist takeover of China the film and all its glory slowly faded into the background and would later be classified as a “Lost” film by the Academy. What makes this story so intriguing is that after several years of production and editing Li Ling Ai never got the credit she deserved for her undeniable help with the movie. This is where Robin Lung picks up the story with Finding Kukan and sets out on an 8-year journey to uncover the mystery that is “Kukan”. Lung tries to show the world that Li Ling Ai was not just an assistant on the movie but an actual Producer worthy of the Oscar she never got. Finding Kukan just wrapped up its second film festival in New York earlier this week. The film will be available on Lungs site http://www.nestedeggproductions.com/. Head over to her site for more information on the film and follow along with Lung on her 8 year journey documented in her blog.