Excerpt from Naeem Mohaiemen’s film, The Young Man Was, Part 1: United Red Army

Naeem Mohaiemen (2008 Visual Arts) is an artist and writer who uses essays, photography and film to explore histories of failed utopias. His Creative Capital-supported project, The Young Man Was, traces a history of the 1970s “ultra-left,” with each chapter in a different medium. The film component of this project, The Young Man Was, Part 1: United Red Army, will have its world premiere on May 1 at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada, followed by a New York premiere at Anthology Film Archives and multiple screenings at universities throughout Bangladesh. Mohaiemen also has two exhibitions in May of a timeline wall installation, a companion to the film, at A Space Gallery in Toronto (through May 26) and at the Frieze New York with Experimenter Gallery (May 4-7).

United Red Army looks at the 1977 hijacking of JAL flight 472 to Dhaka, Bangladesh, by the Japanese Red Army. Framing this action as a pivot point that ends “Act One of a certain 1970s scene,” Mohaiemen explores how the event led to a hardline change in global governments’ stance on hostage negotiations. The film is constructed from audio recordings of the negotiations between the Dhaka control tower and the lead hijacker, with tension building as “the accord between ransom and reason gives way to breaking point” (Shumon Basar, Tank). Continue reading →