FILM: Because We Were BeautiFul

In the organizer's words:

BECAUSE WE WERE BEAUTIFUL/BECAUSE WE WERE BEAUTIFUL

D: Frank van Osch | Indonesia/Netherlands 2010 | Dutch/IndonesianOmdtU | 60 min.

COMFORT WOMEN FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY
D: Jinjoo Eoh | Korea 2014 | eOmeU | 6 min.

Admission 7 | 5 Euro (reduced), tickets: filmhauskoeln.de

Filmmaker Frank van Osch accompanied photographer Jan Banning 's research trip to Indonesia for the exhibition project COMFORT WOMEN, which is being shown in the basement vault of the NS-Dok. Together with journalist Hilde Janssen, they interviewed and photographed contemporary witnesses, some of whom had never even told their families about their traumatic experiences in Japanese military brothels during the Second World War. Many of the women were still minors when they were abducted by Japanese soldiers. One of them cites the reason for this: "BECAUSE WE WERE BEAUTIFUL."

It was not until half a century after the end of the war that self-help groups of affected women from various Asian countries emerged. Since the early 1990s, they have been demanding "apologies and compensation" from the Japanese government every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, including at the 1400th women's demonstration on August 14, 2019, as shown in the report COMFORT WOMEN FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY by the TV station "Korea Now".

Guests: Nataly Jung-Hwa Han (Korea Verband e.V., Berlin),
Jan Banning (Netherlands) & Behshid Najafi (agisra e.V., Cologne)

The film screening is part of the program accompanying the exhibition "The Third World in the Second World War" at the NS Documentation Center. See also www.3www2.de

In cooperation with: Amt für Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern der Stadt Köln; Korea Verband e.V. (Berlin); Stiftung Asienhaus (Cologne); philippinenbüro e.V. (Cologne); FilmInitiativ Köln e.V.; Philippine Women's Forum Germany e.V. / Babaylan Europe; medica mondiale; agisra e.V. (information and advice center for migrant and refugee women in Cologne); Frauen gegen Erwerbslosigkeit (Cologne); Paula e.V. (Cologne); Kölner Frauengeschichtsverein e.V. (Cologne).