Koji Masutani
Of all the “what if?” scenarios in United States history, one in particular lures foreign-policy scholars: What would President John F. Kennedy have done about Vietnam if he had not been assassinated?
Several years ago, Professor James Blight and Adjunct Associate Professor janet M. Lang, both of Brown’s Watson Institute for International Studies, focused their research on this question and on the questions that revisiting the Vietnam War could provide for contemporary U.S. foreign policy. In Koji Masutani ’05, a Watson visiting fellow with two Cannes films to his credit, Blight and lang found a creative collaborator. The three pored over some 250 hours of Kennedy video- and audiotapes, some only recently declassified. For the film Virtual JFK, Masutani relied on hard evidence, not computer-generated fantasy, to make the case that JFK would have sought diplomatic solutions rather than war.
Virtual JFK premiered April 23 at Toronto’s renowned Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. The film’s U.S. launch is scheduled for September 17, 2008, at the New York Film Forum, kicking off a two-week engagement.
Today at Brown recently spoke with Masutani about the film and its conclusions.
What honors did you win at Hot Docs?
Unfortunately no wins, but Virtual JFK received nominations in two categories: Special Jury Prize [one of four finalists] and Best International Feature Documentary [one of three finalists]. We really did not know what to expect, but it was very nice to receive recognition.
Who is the most exciting person you’ve met as a result of VJFK?
[Former New York Times film critic] Elvis Mitchell. I was excited to meet a film critic I so highly respect, and it was nice to hear Elvis talk positively about our film. We met him before we had our interview with IFC – the Independent Film channel – as his interview preceded ours.
If JFK had lived, would there have been a Vietnam War?
In our film, we make the case that there would have been no Vietnam War if Kennedy had lived. Perhaps I shouldn’t give away too much here. But as Jim Blight has mentioned on occasion, people in general should be skeptical of anyone who claims they know exactly what would have happened if Kennedy had not died.
In your film’s alternate universe, what would have happened to Richard Nixon?
Although Nixon makes a brief appearance in our film, we confine our investigation to Kennedy's foreign policy decisions, so we unfortunately don't engage what would have happened with Nixon. The film does not attempt to simulate a “what if,” as we do not want it to be dismissed as a work of fiction. The reason we want viewers to consider the possibility that Kennedy would have made a difference to [U.S. engagement in] Vietnam is because we want viewers to consider the contingent aspects of history. This, we believe, is the point of [Harvard Professor] Niall Ferguson’s work on “virtual history.”
Will Virtual JFK ever screen in Providence?
We are in the process of securing an international festival première in Europe. We hope to be able to choose select cities that include Providence, Boston, or Hyannisport.