Newly uncovered 16mm footage from the US Army archives documenting the barren bombed landscape of Hiroshima raise questions of war tactics for the human race. I WAS THERE is a trilogy of experimental documentary films that explores the complexities of radiation poisoning, our society’s fading collective memory of the atomic bombing, and the unresolved debate between ethics and science.
Chi-Jang Yin
An experimental filmmaker with expertise in media and cinema studies. Chi Jang Yin’s work investigates the gaps in history that are invisible to others. Her work includes critical examination and exploration of political and socioeconomic infrastructure on individuality
Cinema as Memorial
Reminiscence? What is reminiscence? What is the difference between them and memories? What can constitute a reminiscence and memory? How does reminiscence work? Whose reminiscence? What reminiscence? What memory? Whose memory? When should we reminisce and when should we remember? How do we remember and how do we reminisce?
The films in this year’s Spektrum explore these questions through a variety of approaches, both experimental and traditional in documentary film production.
Instead of contestation, this year’s Spektrum tries to present a range of diverse scores on memory and how we remember. From the very personal to/or at the same time the collective, as well as from the hegemonic to the alternative. Memories and ways of remembering coexist; they can be equally important for us to know or learn. It’s not about finding answers in an instant, but rather as a reminder that we can retain as a critical aid to navigate life now and then.
–Wimo Ambala Bayang
Programmer
Chi Jang Yin, the director, writer, and producer of I WAS THERE trilogy echoes the collective memory of the effects and trauma of the Hiroshima bombing through her second experimental documentary series, I WAS THERE, PART II (2024). This time, through archival video footage, a Professor of Philosophy is presented as a witness to the…
