The Paradox of Speculative History in the Experiment of Thieves

During the BFI Anna May Wong Season in 2025, the restored film Thief of Bagdad (1924) was introduced by the Sri-Lankan British artist Michelle Williams Gamaker (1979- ), with a special mention of her 2023 experimental short film Thieves. Based on the historical sources of the casting stories and speculative imagination of film history, Gamaker brought the Chinese American actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961), who played a supporting role in the 1924 black and white version of Thief of Bagdad, back to life, and made her encounter the Indian-born American actor Sabu (1924-1963), who played a supporting role in the 1940 British Technicolor version on set. The two marginalized ‘brown protagonists’ united and overthrew the white hegemony Hollywood production crew with the help of the Indian Silver Maiden and the method of “Gherao.” I regard Thieves as a creative practice of speculative history, while in terms of the protagonists’ characterization, the function of resistance is stronger than the character development itself.

This paper examines how the Gamaker’s experimental film Thieves transcends time and space, addressing the challenge of speculative history, and also discusses the problems faced by transnational diasporic filmmakers. Based on archival research and various biographical writings, this paper investigates the historical dilemma faced by marginalized artists of color, such as Anna May Wong, Sabu, and Sojin Kamiyama, within the Hollywood film industry. Meanwhile, this paper also discusses how the union of “Anna May Wong” and “Sabu” has challenged the narration of mainstream history. However, at the same time, this paper reflects on the paradoxical approach of speculative history, focusing on the stereotypical characterization of Anna May Wong and Sabu in the contemporary transnational diaspora context.