Finding Kukan

Finding Kukan investigates the story of Chinese Hawaii-born Li Ling-Ai, the un-credited female producer of Kukan, a 1941 Academy Award-winning color documentary about World War II China that has been lost for decades. In the late 1930s, China is in dire straits. The country will collapse under Japan's military onslaught if they doesn't receive outside help. Firebrand Li Ling-Ai wants to jolt Americans into action with a new medium -- 16mm Kodachrome color film. She hires Honolulu Advertiser photojournalist Rey Scott to travel to China and capture a citizen's perspective of the war-torn country. Their landmark color film KUKAN screens for President Roosevelt at the White House, is called "awesome" by the New York Times, and receives one of the first Academy Awards for a feature documentary in 1942. (Hawaii International Film Festival)