Bernalillo students interviewed by Chinese publication about documentary

ALBUQUERQUE — Four Albuquerque School of Excellence students from Bernalillo failed to place their documentary about a deadly former Japanese laboratory in the top 10 of a national competition, but they gained some international publicity when they were interviewed about their project by Hong Kong’s paper of record.

Incoming juniors Nicole Briceno Gabauer and Tam Pham appeared in a June 10 article by the South China Morning Post, which spotlighted their 10-minute short, “The Hidden Atrocities of Unit 731: Denial, Duty, and the Right to Justice,” available on YouTube. Pham and Gabauer’s fellow juniors, Masara Algburi and Smriti Monger, also produced the documentary but were not interviewed by the newspaper, which has been in existence for more than 100 years.

“No one expected our story to capture the attention of so many people,” Pam wrote in an email to the Observer. “Interest from such a large range of people means that the documentary we made and the work we have done to spread our message about Unit 731 is valuable.”

The Morning Post article came ahead of the students’ appearance at the National History Day National Contest from June 8-12 at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Gabauer, Pham, Algburi and Monger competed with approximately 200 senior group documentaries, organizers said, although contest entries were not limited to films. Among approximately 3,000 students who participated in the contest, just four New Mexico students placed in the top 10, according to a news release from the New Mexico Humanities Council.

Gabauer, Pham, Algburi and Monger’s documentary explored the lab operated by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and its experiments on men, women and children. The documentary, as its title suggests, also touched on the fact U.S. granted prosecutorial immunity to high-ranking members of the lab in exchange for its research findings. “The United States failed to uphold its responsibility to bring about justice and protect the rights of civilians and prisoners of war under international law,” the film said.

Gabauer told the Morning Post that it was “interesting and odd to see — when Unit 731 was tried — even though all these countries and people knew about it, they used the information and data from those experiments for their own gain and made sure Unit 731 stayed hidden globally.”

Pham said the documentary changed her worldview, particularly as a resident of New Mexico.

“In the United States, we often stay in our own demographic — we put ourselves in bubbles and only see what’s around you,” she told the Morning Post. “This project shifted our perspective and helped us see the world more broadly.”

Jenny Chan, director at Pacific Atrocities Education, a California-based nonprofit that served as a key source for documentary, was quoted in the Morning Post praising the students for shedding light on obscure war crimes like Unit 731.

“The students’ dedication not only (honors) the victims, but also reminds us of the importance of remembering history in its fullest context,” Chan said. “We must continue supporting the next generation of historians, researchers and storytellers who are committed to shedding light on the past.”

The Morning Post article was written by Ohio-based staff writer Ling Xin, who interviewed the students days before the NHD contest.

“I was genuinely impressed by how knowledgeable they were on the subject, the depth of their thinking as high schoolers and, most importantly, their courage to speak out against the U.S. government,” Xin wrote in an email to the Observer. “I really admire their research skills and strong sense of justice.”