Lost war film finds new life

A recovered legacy

The rediscovery and restoration of Kukan was more than an academic or archival victory; it was a spiritual homecoming. In 2015, after 39 contract revisions, the Chongqing China Anti-Japanese War Rear Area Research Collaborative Innovation Center secured exclusive rights to distribute the film in China. Chinese scholars under Professor Zhou Yong worked closely with American partners to collect, translate, and reconstruct the footage, creating a complete Chinese-subtitled version.

"This work is like a key to decoding the past and deciphering the life of Kukan," said Liu Jingyu, a historian at the Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum. "It not only brought these precious images back to life but also opened a new field of international research on the war's visual history."

Tang Jianping, manager of the Western China International Communication Organization, detailed the painstaking restoration effort. "The film was heavily damaged, so we used a combination of AI and manual restoration techniques," she explained. "Missing frames were re-created, scratches removed and grainy footage enhanced. It was a fusion of technology and historical preservation."

The restored version was screened to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the war against Japanese aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. A new documentary, The Return of Kukan, is also in production to showcase Chongqing's transformation over the past 80 years.