History in Images, History in Words: In Search of Facts in Documentary Filmmaking


History in Images, History in Words: 
In Search of Facts 
in Documentary Filmmaking

A lecture by Carma Hinton

Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies at George Mason University

Monday April 10, 2017 from 4-7 pm

at the Photonics Center (9th fl.), 8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston University

17_4_10 Carma_semifinal as of 3.20.17 1038amMy presentation will focus on the process of documentary filmmaking, especially the many challenges my team and I faced in trying to create engaging filmic narratives that are both factually accurate and encompass multiple perspectives. I will use excerpts from my films as well as out-takes to illustrate the difficulties in determining what information to include and exclude, assess the compromises involved in the choices, and explore the consequences of taking various possible paths. I will also address the different problems that a historian encounters when presenting history in images as opposed to in words: the potential and limitation of each medium and what information each might privilege or obscure.  I believe that in this age of “alternative facts” and “parallel universes,” reflections on the challenges in obtaining authenticity and truth and the importance of relentlessly striving to reach this goal, take on particularly urgent meaning.

About the speaker:

Carma Hinton is an art historian and a filmmaker. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Harvard University and is now Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies at George Mason University. Together with Richard Gordon, Hinton has directed many documentary films, including Small Happiness, All Under Heaven, To Taste a Hundred Herbs, Abode of Illusion: The Life and Art of Chang Dai-chien, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, and Morning Sun. She has won two Peabody Awards, the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award, the International Critics Prize and the Best Social and Political Documentary at the Banff Television Festival, and a National News & Documentary Emmy, among others. Hinton is currently working on a book about Chinese scrolls depicting the theme of demon quelling. Carma Hinton was born in Beijing. Chinese is her first language and culture.

Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon 1989

Film Screening: Harmonium

By Maria Elena P. Rivera-BeckstromApril 14th, 2025in 01: Events, 01: Upcoming Events

 

Spring 2025 GEDDES JAPANESE MOVIE SERIES
Tadanobu Asano (浅野忠信): The actor who dares
Four Wednesdays Screenings at 6:30pm
CAS 533B (Capacity strictly 30 maximum), 685 Commonwealth Avenue
BU COMMUNITY ONLY; previous sign-up is necessary
Credit for Language beyond the Classroom (Culture Pass)

April 23 – Harmonium　渕に立つ　(2016)  118 min. Directed by Koji Fukuda
Toshio hires Yasaka in his workshop. This old acquaintance begins to meddle in Toshio's family life and all hell breaks loose. Asano played Yasaka, who has just been released from prison and gained employment at Toshio’s workshop. This movie won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.
         *Please sign up BEFOREHAND for this showing by 5pm on 4/23 at   https://shorturl.at/8FPlq

Presented by the Department of World Languages and Literatures, Boston University Center for the Study of Asia, and the Geddes Language Center. For further information, please contact Hiromi Miyagi-Lusthaus, the series curator (hmiyagi@bu.edu).

Toward Gender Parity in Japan: Who Supports Gender Quotas and Why?

By Maria Elena P. Rivera-BeckstromJanuary 21st, 2025in 01: Featured Events, 01: Past Events
Thursday, February 6, 2025, 5PM-6:30PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Free and open to the public. Please register here.

 

 

Gender equality continues to pose a significant challenge in Japan, particularly within the political sphere. The enactment of the Gender Parity Law in 2018, which encourages political parties to aim for gender parity in candidate nominations, marked an important milestone in addressing this imbalance. However, its effectiveness remains a subject of debate. While the adoption of legal gender quotas represents a potential solution, such measures are often met with controversy. In this talk, I explore public support for gender quotas in Japan, focusing on the characteristics of those who endorse such measures and examining the framing strategies that are most persuasive to Japanese voters.

 

Mari Miura is Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Law at Sophia University and a Visiting Scholar at Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University (2024-2025).  She is co-founder of the “Academy for Gender Parity,” which provides training programs for young women to run for office and an academic advisor of the all-partisan parliamentary group to promote women’s participation in politics in Japan. Her Ph.D. is from University of California, Berkeley.

She is the author of Welfare Through Work: Conservative Ideas, Partisan Dynamics, and Social Protection in Japan (Cornell University Press, 2012), Farewell to Male-dominated Politics (in Japanese, Iwanami Shinsho, 2023, Ishibashi Tanzan Award, Hiratsuka Raicho Award), Making Our Voices Heard—Revival of Representative Democracy (in Japanese, Iwanami Shoten, 2015), editor of Japan’s Women Representatives (in Japanese, Asahi Shimbun Shuppansha, 2016), co-editor of Gender Quotas in Comparative Perspectives: Understanding the Increase in Women Representatives (in Japanese, Akashi Shoten, 2014). She received the Wilma Rule Award (IPSA Award for the Best Research on Gender and Politics) in 2018 and was decorated the Knight of the Order of Merit from the French government in 2021.

Al in Taiwan Newsroom: Collaboration, Challenges, and Opportunities

By Maria Elena P. Rivera-BeckstromJanuary 19th, 2025in 01: Events, 01: Featured Events, 01: Past Events
Monday, February 10, 2025
12:30PM - 2PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Free and open to the public. Please register here.

 

Taiwan presents a unique viewpoint on Al's role in journalism, marked by a commitment to democratic values and ethical accountability. This includes strict verification protocols for Al-generated content and innovative approaches to integrating Al in a culturally sensitive manner.

The talk aims to foster a deeper understanding of the practical and ethical dimensions of Al in journalism, encouraging a cautious yet innovative approach to embracing these technologies.

This study aims to uncover broader implications for news organizations striving to balance technological advancements with maintaining trust and credibility in journalism. The discussion highlights both the opportunities and challenges presented by Al, such as enhancing content production and maintaining editorial oversight to mitigate bias and preserve integrity.

 

Yi-Chieh Lin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism at National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University. Her research focuses on the interplay between media, technology, society, and culture. Lin has published a book and several articles exploring themes such as creativity and fakery, the impact of influencers on the media landscape, digital labor, combating COVID-19 misinformation, news framing of older adults, and sustainable consumption.

Book Talk with the Author:  Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons

By Maria Elena P. Rivera-BeckstromJanuary 18th, 2025in 01: Events, 01: Past Events

Wednesday, February 12, 5 PM - 6:30 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Free and open to the public. Please register here. 

 

This talk provides an overview of Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons(Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury 2025), a new book on China's former First Lady, Soong Mayling (also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek). It examines her timely and critical contributions in the areas of war, women’s work, and diplomacy during China’s War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945) through a gender lens.

 

About the Author:

An Asian American academic from Taiwan, Esther Hu (PhD Cornell) is a feminist literary scholar and historian who joined the faculty of Boston University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor in the Humanities and has taught Shakespeare, the Chinese Translation seminar for the MFA in Literary Translation, and numerous British and American Literature and Writing courses. She is a Senior Fellow at the International History Institute and Affiliated Faculty of the Center for the Study of Asia. An Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University,  Dr. Hu has published many essays, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries and is the English translator of Soong Mayling's Chinese-language pictorial biography, A Legacy of Grace and Resilience: Soong Mayling and her Era (2023; 2nd Ed. 2024).

 

Praises for Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945: Deploying Words as Weapons (Rowman & Littlefield 2025):

Soong Mayling, or Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was one of the most influential and controversial women of the twentieth century and Esther T. Hu’s careful study of her wartime activities is sure to further elevate her stature. This history recovers Mayling’s eloquence and passion in rallying the Chinese people, especially its women, to resist Japanese aggression. It is no wonder that millions of Americans came to understand China’s global mission through its first lady.— Gordon H. Chang, Stanford University
In most English-language historical writing on wartime China, Soong Mayling appears as an interesting footnote, rather than a central figure. Esther Hu’s book provides a new perspective, revealing Soong Mayling’s important contributions as an orator, writer, and organizer who worked tirelessly to rally the Chinese people during a national crisis.

— Peter Worthing, Texas Christian University

This compelling and meticulously researched study delves into the many dimensions of Soong Mayling’s contributions to wartime China from 1937 to 1945. Drawing on archival records, newly released sources, and contemporary scholarship, it brings Soong Mayling vividly to life with clear and engaging prose. A must-read for scholars and students of WWII history and modern China, as well as for general readers captivated by the legacy of Soong Mayling and the complex era of wartime China.

— Peter Chen-Main Wang, Fu-jen Catholic University

 

Soong Mayling was the most influential woman of the Second World War, not just in China but anywhere. In Soong Mayling and Wartime China, 1937-1945 Esther Hu uses Soong Mayling’s radio addresses, public speeches, and letters as well as archival documents from around the world to illuminate her contributions to the war effort. Soong Mayling headed the Chinese air force, mobilized China’s women for the war effort, looked after the many thousands of orphans, and shaped allied relations and strategy by participating as an interpreter and interlocutor in meetings of her husband, president Chiang Kaishek, with other allied leaders. Hu insightfully compares Soong Mayling to Churchill, who through his persona and speeches mobilized Britain as Soong Mayling did China. This is the most detailed and by far the fairest account of a life that should be far better remembered.

— Hans van de Ven, University of Cambridge