APSA for Best Documentary Feature Film
‘Ggeutnaji Anhmeun Jeon Jaeng’ (63 Years On) Republic of Korea
Produced by Kim Dong-won and Lee SeungGu
63 Years On focuses on Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. During the war, an estimated 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia were abducted from their homes against their will or were recruited with offers of work in military factories and subsequently forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. The majority of these women came from Korea, and this film chronicles the survivors' persistent efforts to be recognised as WWII victims by Japan and international forums. 63 Years On tells the stories of five women - a Korean, a Chinese, two Filipinas and one Dutch -who reveal their experiences as survivors, including one elderly Korean woman, Kim Hak-sun, who by speaking of her ordeal on television, created an international groundswell to lobby the Japanese government for an official apology.
“Well I felt very special about 63 Years On because generally documentaries about past political atrocities don’t particularly, I wouldn’t say they don’t affect me, but I just sometimes feel that the past should be the past and we've been through it. But 63 Years On tackled the subject, I was aware of it but not as familiar with it and I just felt in the end a huge compassion for all the women who had gone through this ordeal and that I just felt emotionally drawn into the filmmaker’s conclusion which was that the Japanese should apologise for this which is completely against how I normally feel in every situation, so I felt that I had been swayed in a very dramatic way by the film to change my philosophy of watching those sorts of films.” - Richard Rothschild (Jury Member)
“I was really amazed by the way the director brought out this really provocative subject matter and not making it too overly done in terms of making it too sentimental or just out there and I really was impressed by the way he didn’t just focus on the Korean women and going to different regions giving a reason why their voice had to be out.” - Hanna Lee (Jury Member)
“Well 63 Years On was chosen because it speaks for women all over the world. What they have to go through when men from the other side are on a rampage and I think it's a problem that needs to be addressed and it has been addressed in this film.” - Aparna Sen (Jury Member)
“The topic of this movie or documentary is Asia specific. While you watch this movie you could not help thinking of such a question, which is “why in the whole half century, in the 50 years’ time, these 250,000 “comfort women” did not say anything about, and neither did anybody else come up to say anything about their sufferings and misery?” The movie really makes people think why this problem is brought up only after 50 long years. This is a very important matter in itself. You will be able to feel how painful it is for them to bury their sufferings and trauma so deep in their hearts for 50 years, and you will feel the weight of the problem. I think this is what you can feel. And I also think this movie can represent the good conscience of Asian movie makers.” - Professor Zheng Dongtian (Jury Member)
