Rendezvous

Recently, there has been a boom in movies provoking social debate at the Korean Box office. Three of the big hits of last year - “Assassination,” “Veteran,” and “Inside Men”- respectively dealt with the Japanese Colonial Period, the wrongdoing of a Korean family-run conglomerate, and collusive ties among the political elite, the financial sector, and the media. Experts say this boom is driven by films seeking to point out unsolved social issues in our society.

At the beginning of this year, the Japanese government submitted an official comment to the United Nations claiming there is no direct evidence that Japan forcefully mobilized sex slaves, so called “comfort women,” for its soldiers in World War II. Additionally, no official apology or legal compensation was included in the agreement reached by South Korea and Japan at the end of last year.

On Feb. 24, the movie “Spirits' Homecoming,” based on the real story of comfort women, was released. It has been receiving a lot of attention from people as the comfort women issue has yet to be resolved. The Argus met the director of the film, Cho Jung-lae to see what its message is for this period.

The Argus: Hello, please introduce yourself and your movie.
Cho Jung-lae (Cho): Hello, I am movie director, Cho Jung-lae. Based on the true story of surviving victims, “Spirits’ Homecoming” is a fictional story of two young girls who were forced to become comfort women during the war. This movie was designed to perform memorial rites for the women who died far from home. I would say it is called a “feature by the people” since many people invested money into its production.

The Argus: Why did you decide to make this film?
Cho: In 2002, I volunteered at the House of Sharing, a nursing home for surviving comfort women. As I became close with them, I became aware of their painful stories. Also, I was shocked by one of the survivors, Kang Il-chul’s painting titled “Burning Virgins.” This picture portrayed scenes of Japanese soldiers taking young girls to a burning pit that Kang actually saw.
To prevent such tragedies from recurring, I thought we have to know the stories of the victims. From that moment on, I began thinking about ways to let the world know about their pain. Since I had served as an indie filmmaker before, I decided to make a movie for them as well, and I started writing the script in 2002.

The Argus: What were some challenges in making the movie?
Cho: First and foremost, making a movie requires lots of money, but getting money was beyond me. Although I knocked on the doors of numerous film studios with my script, I failed. Therefore, I crowdsourced the film, and luckily crowds of people contributed. I cannot help but say completing the movie was a miracle because I finally could have adequate funding for my project, thanks to those who funded it after 14 years went by since I first decided to make it.
Another difficulty was that several people expressed reservations about the film’s subject, as they considered it a taboo topic. Those who agree with Japan’s top leadership on the comfort women issue still exist in South Korea, though they do not often express this opinion publically. The fight for awareness among them was never easy.

The Argus: I heard that your feature received lots of people’s funding and care like you said.
Cho: As of right now, 75,270 people invested money to produce the film according to official statistics. By way of appreciation, I held a movie preview with supporters and put all their names in the film’s ending credits. Among people of all ages, students especially were concerned about the film. Some students sent papers on which they handwrote the title, “Spirits’ Homecoming” in Korean, some sent their own paintings of movie scenes, and some invested in this project with money they collected together in their class. Groups of students at Daejeon Foreign Language High School visited the set and came to the advanced screening.

The Argus: What did you focus on to express the comfort women’s pain in your movie and did you have any difficulties?
Cho: Japan currently insists that there is no evidence that the Japanese military forcibly took comfort women. I often referred to this movie as “cultural evidence.” Accordingly, I tried to show exactly in the movie that young girls were kidnapped by Japanese soldiers and experienced hardships but in a tempered manner. As very young actresses played the roles of the girls who were sexually abused by the military, they went through psychological consultations during the filming. Nevertheless, the actresses were under a lot of pressure as they acted. We had a hard time completing every scene. Especially in the scene in which young girls were burned, actors and staff cried bitterly.

The Argus: Your movie is known to have been posted in the New York Times and screened at the U.S. Congress. What were viewers’ reactions?
Cho: A short movie teaser that I filmed in 2014 was mentioned in the New York Times in March 2015. In July of last year, I screened this teaser at the celebration held at the U.S. Congress. The celebration was to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the passage of the resolution on “comfort women.” The resolution, condemning Japan’s sexual enslavement, was led by U.S. congressman Mike Honda in 2007. At the ceremony, many American politicians and even most of the Japanese press participated in it.
 Reactions were very good. Audiences who saw the teaser cried, and the master of ceremonies cried so much that he could not continue to organize the event. Mr. Honda said, “The Japanese must watch this movie.”

The Argus: Tell us how you have been promoting the movie to the international community.
Cho: This film was supported by lots of people in the U.S. and Japan. As I hosted an advanced screening with supporters in Korea, I gave advanced copies to various places in the U.S. Starting with Los Angeles on Jan. 23, advanced screenings were also held at the University of Connecticut and Brown University on Jan. 28, Northern Virginia Community College on Jan. 29 and finally in New York in February. I asked viewers in the previews to spread the story of “Spirits’ Homecoming” to the world, and I am now seeking methods for the movie to be distributed by a U.S. company.

The Argus: What did you want to deliver through your movie?
Cho: Through this movie, I wanted to talk about “healing.” In the film, I tried to reenact the scene in which the victims’ spirits came back home as yellow butterflies, many of whom in fact never made it home. Every time I screen the movie, I think one soul comes back home.
Furthermore, older people and women usually suffer the most after wars. Wars are still now happening around the world. It is really sad that they repeat again and again. That is why I hoped for this movie to be a tool for peace hoping that no war will occur again on this earth.
Lastly, I look forward to seeing the victims get an official apology from the Japanese government as a result of this film. I expect that it will be shown in Japan like Mr. Honda said, so that many Japanese can watch the movie and know that comfort women underwent severe pain. Actually, five Japanese said, “I was really surprised. Japan should feel remorse about its history” after seeing the movie.

The Argus: Please give some final words to The Argus readers.
Cho: An elementary school teacher told her story to me. When she taught elementary students about comfort women, they asked her a question. “Were grandmothers taken by Japanese soldiers?” It is because young students are not aware of the fact that comfort women, with the survivors’ average age being close to 90, were actually kidnapped by force when they were of a similar age as the students. I hope many people will realize that young girls struggled with intense pain and care much more about the comfort women issue via my movie.

“Spirits’ Homecoming” ended with an unreal scene in which the comfort women’s spirits came back home as butterflies. What is most needed to solve the comfort women issue? It is Japan’s sincere apology and people’s concern about the issue like director Cho said in his interview. In this way, the scene in which the victims’ sprits come home will become real. And until then, the story of “Spirits’ Homecoming” still remains unending.

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