Contact: Chi Jang Yin | Email: chijangyin@gmail.com | Website: chijangyin.art

I Was There, Part II (2024)

Synopsis Newly uncovered 16mm footage from US Army archives recorded the bare land of Hiroshima and the questions of war tactics on the human race immersed in the present time. "I Was There" is a trilogy of experimental documentary films that explores the problem of radiation, our society's fading collective memory of the atomic bombing and the unresolved debate between ethics and science.

"I Was There" is a trilogy of experimental documentary films that explores the problem of radiation, our society's fading collective memory of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the unresolved debate between ethics and science. These series concern the immediate effects of weaponized nuclear technology, as invisible poison, on the human body. (View the other two series, I WAS THERE, and I WAS THERE, Part III.)

Credits

Directed, edited, research, writing

CHI JANG YIN

Sound editing and engineer

KEVIN CAGNOLATTI 

Music

ANN YI, PIANO

Bach, Concerto No. 5. BWV1056

Graphic Design & Typography Design

CAITLIN MESKILL

Archival Films

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Moving Images Relating to Military Activities 

Japanese Air Attack and Ship Damage: Ammunition Loading at Sea, NAID: 2518999Local ID: 428-NPC-11477 Moving Images Produced: April 19, 1945 

Eye Witness to Atomic Bomb Explosion, Tokyo, Japan, NAID: 19190Local ID: 111-ADC-5391Moving ImagesProduced: October 3, 1945

Japanese Film of Atomic Bomb Damage in Hiroshima, Japan, NAID: 23791Local ID: 111-ADC-10027Moving ImagesProduced: 19451 Video

Kure & Hiroshima Burned Area Atomic Bomb Results, NAID: 80081Local ID: 428-NPC-15571Moving ImagesProduced: November 23, 1945

Maps and Graphics

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Permanent Exhibitions

Archival Photographs

"General view of Hiroshima, Japan as seen from the vicinity of 'zero,' shows complete devastation as a result of the atomic bombing." Author, Department of Defense- Department of the Air Force, March 1946

National Archives Identifier 148728174, Local Identifier 342-C-K6011

Photograph of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. (Local Identifier: 243-HP-I-31-3), Author, Department of Defense- Department of the Air Force, March 1946

Photographs Used In The Report Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, between 1947–1947. Photograph of Hiroshima after Atomic Bomb, National Archives Identifier 22345671

Local Identifier 243-HP-I-31-2, Produced: 1945

War Department. U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. Pacific Survey. Physical Damage Division. 9/1945-4/1946, National Archives Identifier 540224, Accession Number 2578, Local Identifier 243-HP, NAIL Control Number, NWDNS-243-HP

The film was supported by

Hiroshima Film Commission Office, Japan

Urban Development Bureau, Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School

Tomoko Nishizaki

Dr. Yuki Miyamoto

DISTRIBUTION

Video Data Bank, Chicago

Biography – An experimental filmmaker with expertise in media and cinema studies, Chi Jang Yin, investigates the gaps in history that are invisible to others. Her work includes the exploration of VR, photography, and the impact of political and socioeconomic infrastructure.

Yin’s expertise in Experimental Cinema, VR Documentary, Cinéma Vérité, and digital media studies informs a diverse body of award-winning work that has been recognized internationally in galleries, exhibitions, and film festivals.

Yin’s films have been shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; European Media Arts Festival in Osnabrouck, Germany; Kasseler Dokumentarfilm-und Videofest, Germany; Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Germany; Asolo Art Film Festival, Italy; The Lazniz Centre for Contemporary Art, Poland; Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic; Toronto International Film Festival, Canada; Manchester Arts Centre, United Kingdom; The Contemporary Center of Art, Bulgaria; The Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago; The Pacific Film Archive, The University of California-Berkeley; Los Angeles Film Festival, and Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, IDFA, The Netherlands.

Filmography  – 

Vanish (2024)

I Was There, Part II (2024)

I Was There (2023)

I Was There, Part III (2021)

Pretend Nothing Happened (2019)

Hannah and the Crystal Ball (2010)

Dark River (2010) 

Lighthouse (2009)

For the Unseen (2008)

Glass House (2006)

Icon (2005)

Untitled Affair (2003)

Another Clapping (2001)