Director

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  양 지아윈Yang Jia-yun

  A Secret Buried for 50 years: The Story of Taiwanese Comfort Women (1998) In 1992, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF) was entrusted by the Taiwanese government to take care of ‘comfort women’ – women who had been deceived and lured into slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. A total of 58 women were conrmed as survivors. It was not until 1998 that we received approval from the board of the TWRF to start filming the documentary - A Secret Buried for 50 Years – A Story of Taiwanese “Comfort Women”. We interviewed more than 20 women who were interested in being filmed. Ultimately, we chose 13 ladies whose stories we would tell in the documentary. Today, 17 years after the filming, only four of them remain alive.The most memorable moment for me was the reaction of many high school girls are the premiere. Nearly a hundred of them wrote messages to the ladies: “Go, Grandmothers, go!” “Grandmothers, we appreciate you stepping forward to tell your stories. We learned the most valuable lessons about life.” “Grandmothers, we will back you up.” “We have never experienced war, but they are dentally frightening. We pray that our generation will never have to go through the violence of war and brutality against women. May the world have peace forever?” “Grandmothers, you have our respect!”We were greatly honored to document these courageous women’s appeal for justice for the traumas they seared, and their testimonies of life.​​