On May 18, New York Film Academy Broadcast Journalism Chair Emeritus Bill Einreinhofer premiered his new documentary Unsettled History: America, China, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid at the NYFA New York City Campus Theater. The documentary examines a key moment in American/Chinese history, exploring how the two sides remember this shared event in different ways, the reasons for this divergence and what lessons it may hold today. Recounted by children of the Raiders and their Chinese rescuers, the documentary offers emotional insights that only family members can provide.
Chinese Consul General Huang Ping from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, along with Ms. Chen Chunmei, Cultural Counselor, and other members of the Cultural Section at the Consulate General attended the screening. Michael Young, NYFA President; Dr. Joy Zhu, NYFA Executive Vice President, China Region; Bill Einreinhofer; NYFA faculty; and crew members of Unsettled History also attended the event. In his speech, Ambassador Huang Ping said:
“History is a very good mirror. I think we need to draw [on] a few experiences and lessons from history. By telling the story of Flying Tigers and the Doolittle Raid, I believe we know that by working together, China and the US, we can do a lot of incredible things, big things. You know, working together. And by revealing the story, we know the friendships between our two countries and peoples are deeply rooted in the hearts of both sides.”
 |
 |
Michael Young, President of the New York Film Academy, recalled the nearly 15 years of collaboration between the New York Film Academy and Chinese universities and media groups and expressed his willingness to carry out more collaborative projects in the future. Director and producer, Bill Einreinhofer, recalled some of the touching stories that occurred during the years of filming between China and the United States. He said the eighty American pilots who risked their lives to go on the mission are deserving heroes; the people of Jiangxi and Zhejiang, who sacrificed their lives to help the American pilots, are equally heroic. An estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese during their search for Doolittle’s men.
On the same day, the Chinese Consulate General in New York also handed over more than 20 classic Chinese films from the 1980s to NYFA as teaching materials.
Unsettled History: America, China, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid has now been aired on more than 40 local channels in the United States and is scheduled to be aired on WORLD Channel on May 30 in 190 U.S. stations as a part of Memorial Day weekend special programming.