Award-winning documentary film The Apology directed by Tiffany Hsiung will be screened at Northwest Film Forum at 2:00 PM on Saturday, December 8th, followed by an expert panel. This event is free and open to the public.
The film, which aired on PBS in October, follows the lives of three survivors — from Korea, China, and the Philippines — of the WWII-era Japanese military sexual slavery/enforced prostitution known as the “comfort women” system. See the International Examiner’s review of it this film.
“Comfort women” are estimated 50,000 to 200,000 women who were forced to provide sexual service for members of the Imperial Japanese armed forces between 1932 and 1945. Women from Japan, Korea, China, and across the rest of Asia-Pacific were recruited through various means — from debt bondage to deception to outright conscription or kidnapping–but almost all of them are considered victims of human trafficking in today’s standards.
An expert panel will follow the screening featuring historian Dr. Chong Eun Ahn of Central Washington University, and anthropologist Dr. Tomomi Yamaguchi of Montana State University, as well as local activists.
The event is co-sponsored by API Chaya, AAJA Seattle, APALA Seattle Chapter, Densho, GABRIELA Seattle, International League of Peoples’ Struggle – ILPS Seattle, Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization(FeND), LELO-Seattle, NAPAWF Seattle, Northwest Film Forum, Parisol // Pacific Rim Solidarity Network, Seattle Evergreen Coalition, Sahngnoksoo, and the City of Seattle Women’s Commission. This event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS.
Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1957810347850205/
For more information:
http://fendnow.org/theapology2018
Fact sheet on Japanese Military “Comfort Women”
https://apjjf.org/-Asia-Pacific-Journal-Feature/4829/article.html
Contact:
Japan-U.S. Feminist Network for Decolonization (FeND)
[email protected]
(713) 364-4475
