The Rocking Sky (沖天) is a documentary film produced by General Association of Chinese Culture (中華文化總會, GACC) in association with CNEX Studio Corporation (視納華仁文化傳播公司) in Taipei, Taiwan, that uses actual footage taken during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1945 to tell the story of the Republic of China’s Air Force.
In the early days of World War II, the Republic of China suffered immeasurably at the hands of invading Japanese forces. At the time, the R.O.C. had only 300 combat aircrafts compared to the Japanese Air Force’s fleet of 2,000. The Rocking Sky depicts not only the R.O.C. pilots’ exceptional bravery and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, but also their struggle to justify their sacrifices during their darkest hours, when hope was all but lost.
The world premiere of The Rocking Sky was held in August, 2015, at the historic Zhongshan Hall (中山堂) in Taipei, Taiwan. A number of the war’s surviving air-force veterans were in attendance at the event, as well as then President Ma Ying-jeou. After the premiere, the film met with universal acclaim, receiving glowing reviews from the audience, the news media, and film critics in Taiwan.
Later, the film was shown in Mainland China and Hong Kong as part of a nearly two month tour, which comprised over fifty public and private theater screenings. After each screening, the director, producers, and cast members were met with the positive and emotional responses of the crowd.
Due to the positive international response, CNEX was encouraged by the American Chinese community to arrange a screening tour of the U.S. The tour is taking place in June, 2016, in six U.S. cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York. Following each showing, director Chang Chao-wei (張釗維) and producer Shen Ru-yun (沈如雲) will share anecdotes from the film’s production. The tour provides an opportunity to share this important historical period with the American public and members of the overseas Chinese community, and to express respect and gratitude to the members of the R.O.C. Air Force for valiantly defending their country.
The Boston screening will take place at 9:30 AM on June 25 (Saturday) at Microsoft Building at Kendall Square (255 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142), and will be hosted by the New England Association of Chinese Professionals (紐英崙中華專業人員協會NEACP) in coordination with eight other Chinese organizations. Attendance is free. The film has a runtime of 98 minutes, and will be shown in Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles.
