Finding Kukan

Can the discovery of a long lost 1941 Oscar-winning film bring recognition to the unheralded Chinese American woman behind the making of the movie?

A search for a Chinese American heroine leads filmmaker Robin Lung to Li Ling-Ai, an audacious Chinese woman from Hawaii who co-produced a 1941 Oscar-winning documentary called KUKAN -- a 90-minute color feature that depicts the Chinese resistance to the Japanese invasion of the country. KUKAN means "heroic courage under bitter suffering" and can also describe the journey of its two filmmakers. Prior to producing KUKAN, Li Ling-Ai knew little about making movies and her director Rey Scott had never held a motion picture camera in his hands. They had no Hollywood or government backing and faced numerous obstacles. Yet KUKAN was screened for President Roosevelt at the White House, had long runs in theaters across the country and was editorialized in major newspapers before becoming the first of two documentary features ever given an Academy Award. Now after being lost for over 50 years, the world knows almost nothing about KUKAN or its two courageous filmmakers. When Robin Lung finally locates a badly damaged copy of KUKAN in a Georgia basement, she pieces together the incredible story behind the film and launches a quest to bring belated recognition to a pioneering female mediamaker.