OTHER CINEMA: James T. Hong's "Lessons of the Blood"

Now based in Berlin, the globetrotting Mr. Hong rewards his fans in Frisco with a privileged 'sneak peek' at his feature-length Lessons of the Blood, a personal crusade to expose Japanese historical revisionism of war crimes. In response to Japan's controversial erasure of atrocities against its Asian neighbors, particularly China, James has generated, through repeated research trips, many interview hours with survivors, and has now wrapped this doc material in his own inimitable polemic-cinema style. This powerful essay on historical memory, slave labor, and biological warfare is preceded by a special screening of the first 16mm reel of Hong's extremely rare Spear of Destiny, an allegory on similar themes of political tyranny.