China Lion Film Entertainment announced today the release of the record-breaking Chinese documentary TWENTY-TWO, set to open in selected Australian and New Zealand cinemas on 7 September 2017. Directed by Guo Ke, the film is his second documentary on “comfort women”. It was inspired by his directorial debut short “Thirty Two”, released in 2012.
It is estimated that at least 200,000 Chinese women were forced into sex slavery by the Japanese invaders during World War II. TWENTY-TWO was named after the number of “comfort women” still alive at the time of its filming in 2014. Through a restrained and careful approach, TWENTY-TWO offers a look at the current situation and lives of these 22 elderly women.
The film follows the subjects as they go about their daily lives, listening to them talk about their experiences and their own perspectives on life, including both suffering and happiness. Skillfully avoiding becoming intrusive, Guo Ke attempts to trace, assemble and preserve fragments of histories both factual and highly personal.
Just as fascinating is the story behind the making of the film. The movie’s release comes on the heels of the death of Huang Youliang, one of the women who unsuccessfully sued the Japanese government in July of 2001 for their traumatic suffering. She died at the age of 90 in her home in the southern province of Hainan on August 13, a day before the film’s release in China.
More than one million yuan was raised from the public to go towards publication fees for the film. The director typed the names of all 32,099 people who made donations and shows them all during the film’s credits. Renowned director Feng Xiaogang (the upcoming Youth) recently took to Weibo to promote the film, receiving 141,000 likes and 68,000 retweets in less than 20 hours.
It is estimated that the film might become most profitable Chinese movie of all time, according to China media Mtime.
