For Toronto director Tiffany Hsiung, telling the stories of Grandma
Adela, Grandma Cao, and Grandma Gil — survivors of sexual enslavement by
the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII — was a profoundly personal
experience that transcended her interests as a documentary filmmaker and
exposed her very soul.
She first met the inspirational women in
2009 as part of a study trip examining the atrocities of WWII in China,
the Philippines, and South Korea and learned that they were kidnapped
from their homes more than 70 years ago along with 200,000 other young
women and girls.
Turned into "comfort women" for soldiers in a
Japanese-occupied Asia, they were raped, beaten and tortured, time and
time again.
Grandma Adela, a Filipina "comfort woman" for the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII. Photo by GRAB, National Film Board.
