The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision has a unique set of Japanese propaganda films in its collection. The films date from December 8, 1941 to August 15, 1945 and were used as propaganda in the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during the Pacific War, when Indonesia was under Japanese occupation. The films were used by the Sendendu, the propaganda department of the Japanese military administration on Java, to influence the minds of the local people of Indonesia. The films cover a variety of topics such as reports from the battlefield, learning Indonesians Japanese, diligent work ethics and a hygienic way of living.
Soon after the Japanese capitulation in August 1945, these films were confiscated by the returning Dutch authorities and shipped to the Netherlands. Since then, the films have been preserved and digitized. As far as we know, this collection only exists in the Netherlands.
In September 2019, Sound and Vision and NHK Enterprises Inc. started a research project on this historically important and unique collection together, in order to mark it as public domain, make it accessible for the public, research and talk about this piece of sensitive history. Natsuko Hayama from NHK Enterprises came to Sound and Vision to work on this project for 10 months.
Our presentation will contain:
- an explanation of the collaboration between Sound and Vision and NHK and the process;
- the challenges in terms of copyright and ethical issues we faced;
- the results so far;
- future perspectives;
- and of course an insight in the collection and discoveries we made.
We hope to inspire other archives to partner up as well, share their (common) history, even though this history might be a sensitive one.
