All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

Finding Kukan Teaser

Posted: May 14th, 2012 | 1 Comment »

This project has been progressing for some time down on Hawaii – now there’s a teaser available…click here

Dri­ven by a life­long lack of Chi­nese Amer­i­can hero­ines to emu­late, film­maker Robin Lung goes on a quest to dis­cover the real life equiv­a­lent of a fic­tional Chi­nese Amer­i­can female detec­tive. As she fol­lows clues she runs across a fas­ci­nat­ing mem­oir writ­ten by a Chi­nese woman from Hawaii named Li Ling-Ai and unearths a 1941 Oscar-winning doc­u­men­tary that Li worked on called KUKAN – an epic color film about war-torn China that has been “lost” for over half a cen­tury. Lung’s hunt for a hero­ine takes on a new dimen­sion as she tries to track down the story behind KUKAN and prove that Li’s role in the film went beyond the Tech­ni­cal Advi­sor credit she was given.  She quickly dis­cov­ers two other peo­ple who have their own rea­sons for dig­ging into KUKAN’s amaz­ing past: Ed Carter, the doc­u­men­tary cura­tor at the Acad­emy Archives who’s seek­ing the miss­ing cor­ner­stone of his col­lec­tion; and Michelle Scott, the grand­daugh­ter of KUKAN cam­era­man Rey Scott, a young artist who longs to know more about her dead grand­fa­ther and the mys­te­ri­ous pho­tographs he left behind.


One Comment on “Finding Kukan Teaser”

  1. 1 Robin Lung said at 9:59 am on May 18th, 2012:

    Thanks for the shout out, Paul. It seems like forever since I first contacted you about this project. It is progressing in very interesting ways. Can’t wait to read your new book when I catch my breath. aloha, Robin

    p.s. I discovered Li Ling-Ai hanging out with some of your favorites, Carl Crow and Ann Bridge to name a couple…


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