Film Documentary History Of War Japan In Indonesia Played In Tokyo

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The documentary Masa Kini is the Past: Father, Java and Film Illusion, which tells the history of Japan's occupation in Indonesia during the Pacific War, was screened in Tokyo, Sunday, September 18.

The director of the film, Shinichi Ise, said the film was the result of his efforts to trace films produced by his father during the Japanese war and occupation in Indonesia.

"The right of the 'war' I met on the way to reflect on my late father," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday.

Shinichi's father, Chon although Ise (1912-1973), is known as an edit to a film that participates in producing propaganda films that justify Japanese hegemony in Asia.

Japan at the time occupied various regions in Asia in the Pacific War under the pretext of freeing the region from European colonialism.

Chon left to work at a Japanese film company in Java, Nilon Eigasha (Nichiei), as a reporter in 1943-1945.

Shinichi admitted that he started doing research while following in his father's footsteps 30 years ago.

About 130 propaganda films produced by Chon left, Shinichi said, turned out to be stored and cared for in the Dutch Visual Audio Archives (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision).

Shinichi tries to find the essence of war in Indonesia by looking for his father's works.

"I want to listen to voices that have never been revealed," he said.

The documentary Masa Kini is Past (Ima wa Mukashi) played at the Hibiya Library and Museum, Hibiya Convention Hall in Japanese at 11.00 local time and with an Indonesian translation at 13.45 local time.

Shinichi also directed various documentaries, such as "Nao-chan" (1995), "Entoko" (1999), "Piglet" (2002) and "Grandma Taimagura" (2004) before finally producing the film "Current Time is the Past: Father, Java and Illusion Films" (Ima wa Mukashi) in 2021.