A Long Way Around (2019)

Twenty Two

Follow the lives of the elderly survivors who were forced into sex slavery as “Comfort Women” by the Japanese during World War II. At the time of filming, only 22 of these women were still alive to tell their story. Through their own personal histories and perspectives, they tell a tale that should never be forgotten to generations unaware of the brutalization that occurred.

Comfort

KIM Soonak is a survivor of sex slavery by the Japanese military. The war may have ended, but her life was still at a war. She lived in the prostitute quarters to survive, did sex business in the US military camp town, and peddled goods from the US military. She raised two kids on her own as she worked as a maid. We’ll listen to her story in her absence. The film reconstructs the life story of the deceased KIM Soonak with interviews with activists, archive videos, animation, and read-aloud testimony.

The Apology

"The Apology" explores the lives of former "comfort women," the more than 200,000 girls forced into sexual slavery during World War II. Today, they fight for reconciliation and justice as they struggle to make peace with the past.

My name is KIM Bok-dong

In 1992, KIM Bok-dong, reported herself as a victim of the sexual slavery, "comfort women" during World War Ⅱ. She wanted to receive the proper apology from the Japan government but they denied its responsibility. In 2011, commemorating the 1000th Wednesday demonstration, Statue of Peace was installed in front of the Embassy of Japan. The fight over Japan confronts a new stage.

Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue

A Japanese-American director digs deep into the controversial 'comfort women' issue to settle the debate on whether the women were paid prostitutes or sex slaves, and reveals the motivations and intentions of the main actors pushing to revise history in Japan.

My Own Breathing

"My Own Breathing" is the final documentary of the trilogy, The Murmuring about comfort women during the World War II directed by BYUN Young-joo. This is the completion of her seven years work. BYUN's first and second documentaries spoke of grandmothers' everyday life through the origin of their torment, while My Own Breathing goes back to their past from their everyday life. Deleting any device of narration or music, the camera lets grandmothers talk about themselves. Finally, the film revives their deep voices trampled by harsh history.

The Murmuring

Every Wednesday at noon, women who were kidnapped for sexual purpose by the Japanese army during its imperialism and their supporters demonstrate against Japanese government to request official apology and indemnity for their crimes. This documentary portrays sexually abused old women's suppressed story of overcoming of their shame and forced silence.

Habitual Sadness

The story of the women at the "House of Sharing" continues. Old women who share a common bond lead a peaceful life in the countryside, raising vegetables, chickens and painting pictures. They are no different from the elderly women we see every day. But they are all scarred by pain and sorrow from their collective history of being comfort women during World War 2. They became subject to prejudice in their own homeland after their return to Korea. It is painful for them to watch other peoples' children and grandchildren, and they feel rage when the Japanese government tries to cover up the unspeakable crimes they committed against them. The film asks us to remember what these women sacrificed and the shame and misery they faced even as these individuals pass away often forgotten by their own people.

The Big Picture

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The Silence

The Silence narrates the struggle of fifteen "comfort women"—former sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII—for recognition and reparation. The "comfort women" issue has previously been treated almost exclusively within the framework of Korean nationalism. The Silence will provide insight into the ways in which nationalism and the emergence of post-war Asian nation-states have hindered the understanding of "comfort women" narratives through Zainichi Korean documentary filmmaker Soo-nam Park's point of view.

Spirits' Homecoming

After the Japanese kidnap two Korean teenagers and take them to a comfort station to join other girls who are serving as sex slaves, only one of them survives. Decades later, the elderly woman tries to reunite with her friend's spirit.

The Last Comfort Women

This film tells the story of three young women from South Korea, Japan, and China who were ravaged after becoming comfort women in the Japanese army.

Snowy Road

Jong-bun, in her eighties, is one of the last surviving 'Comfort Women' victims forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II. Back in 1944, at the end of the Japanese occupation in Korea, Jong-bun was a poor but energetic girl while Young-ae was the smart rich clerk's daughter. One day, Jong-bun gets abducted and finds herself on a train for Manchuria. To her surprise, she also finds Young-ae on the train facing the same fate to become a comfort woman. Jong-bun and Young-ae help each other go through the living hell and as the war comes to an end, they finally escape from the comfort women camp, only to face two different paths of life. Decades later, Jong-bun helps out a teenaged girl who is disoriented in life, reminded of her own painful past.

Breaking the Silence

Francesca, tormented by her past, breaks the silence to talk about surviving the horrors of the comfort stations of Imperial Japan.

I Can Speak

A grumpy old woman befriends a young civil servant and learns English from him. She then reveals to him her shocking past.

Tuning Fork

From the Japanese Occupation a 'comfort woman' returns from China an old woman. At the end of the war she can't return home and spends the next 65 years living as an alien in a foreign country. Even to her own granddaughter she seems to be losing her mind. She only wants to go back to Korea.

Herstory

A true story of a six-year-long legal conflict of 10 comfort women and 13 attorneys against 200 Fukuoka supporters association.

Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D

He was known as The Overweight Lover, The Heavster, and Most Affectionately, Heavy D. Penned as one of the most likable people in Hip-Hop, he lived a life that was not only positive and enlightening as a performer, but also as a father and a friend. Be Inspired is a documentary chronicling the prolific life and career of Dwight "Heavy D" Myers.

Beyond the Comic Panels

Written, directed and produced by Jason C. Gares, (Hackers of CypherCon, Stories from the Midwest Gaming Classic, Video Workbench: The Scale Model Show) BEYOND THE COMIC PANELS is a 98 minute documentary film that highlights 12 artists, publishers and animators on how they got started. All give various tips, tricks and techniques that can aide fellow artists to take the next crucial step to help make dreams into reality.

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration

From the private grounds of Windsor Castle, an all-star cast put on a theatrical arena event featuring 1,300 performers, 500 horses and four acts, which gallop through history to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.

La música está servida: Sofía Carson

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Wild Lapland

Snow blankets the trees and green lights dance in a star-filled sky. For a brief time during the festive season, our thoughts turn to a winter wonderland, far to the north. It’s a place best known to outsiders as Lapland, the magical home of Santa Claus. But far from the festive lights, Santa’s home is even more enchanting than you may realise.

Beyond the Headlines: The Gabby Petito Story

This one-hour special chronicles the twists and turns of the tragic road trip through the lens of Gabby’s social media presence. Told by both the people who knew her best and a community of online strangers and cyber-sleuths who ended up banding together to ultimately solve this shocking homicide. Two timelines were unfolding in the Gabby Petito story–a private one and a very public one. Viewers will get an inside look at both sides of Gabby’s life and the chasm that existed between the two.

Radioactive Forest: 10 Years After

Ten years after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant following the 3.11 megaquake and megatsunami, the once beautiful ‘satoyama’ landscape is now replaced by haphazardly spreading wilderness. The most conspicuous change may be in the local ecosystem.

The Mountains

Formed by 30 years of home videos, more than 75,000 photographs, and a 1,600-km Arctic Circle road trip, a self-portrait of the men in the filmmaker's family and the devastating tragedy that led to the distance between them.

Praying for Armageddon

While much of the world struggles to keep the planet going, a frighteningly large group of American fundamentalist Christians are working to promote the apocalypse. The evangelical movement is convinced that they will be saved when Jesus appears in the state of Israel on horseback and, with a sword raised to heaven, kills the infidels so that the blood reaches the horses’ bridles. Natural fires, corona, wars and crises are evidence that the time is nigh. But for the prophecies to be realized, the state of Israel has to grow stronger, so they provide huge financial support and are so far inside the White House that they help influence US foreign policy.

After Work

Kuwait’s constitution says that every person has the right to a job, so in some places 20 people are employed for one person’s job. In South Korea, they work so much that a policy has been introduced to turn off computers at the end of the day so that employees can’t work any more. In the US, they give up over 500 million holiday hours each year, while Amazon’s drivers are trying to form a union. Meanwhile, robots are poised to take over most jobs and put the rest of us out of work. Work is so crucial to our identity and what we spend our waking hours on that it is barely noticed anymore. A lot has happened since a group of Puritan priests invented the concept of work ethic in the 1600s, and in the 21st century the very concept of work is in many ways disintegrating. A perfect situation for a filmmaker like Swedish mastermind Erik Gandini, who travels the world to explore what the concept of work means today – if it means anything at all.

Songs of Earth

With Olin's 85-year-old father as guide, we experience Norway's most adventurous valley, Oldedalen in Nordfjord. He grew up here, and here generations before him have lived in balance with nature.

An Ordinary Denazification

Euromaidan, Crimea, birth of DPR, 8 years of war, beginning of denazification.

Les Rois de la comédie

At the end of the 1950s, four humor specialists simultaneously experienced recognition. Fernandel with “The Cow and the Prisoner”, Bourvil with “The Hunchback”, Jacques Tati with “My Uncle” and Louis de Funès with “Oscar” at the theater. On the big screen or on stage, each of these artists has a unique style of humor. They are the kings of French comedy. But how did they manage to become true box office champions? How did they experience their immense popularity? How do they still influence the comedy genre? And above all, are- are they funny in life? Where is the line between their character in the cinema and their real personality?

Louis Tomlinson: All of Those Voices

Ditching the typical glossy sheen of celebrity documentaries, this film gives audiences an intimate and unvarnished view of Louis Tomlinson's life and career. Through never-before-seen home movie footage and behind the scenes access to Louis’ sell-out 2022 World Tour, the documentary offers a unique perspective on what it's like to be a musician in today's fast-paced world.

Glitch: The Rise & Fall of HQ Trivia

This timely documentary chronicles the tech-fueled rise and Fyre-style fall of HQ Trivia, the revolutionary "game show on your phone" app that went viral, swept the nation, then crashed and burned. The global live-play game sensation drew millions of daily users to its frenetically fun trivia challenges and cash prizes, attracting celebrity fans including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Neil Patrick Harris, Jimmy Kimmel, and Kelly Clarkson. But its success was undone by corporate clashes, cast changes, and a tragic death. Told through the eyes of former host Scott Rogowsky and other first-person players from inside and outside the company, the film documents the real-life comedy and tragedy that unfolded in front of and behind the cameras.

Earthquake

On December 7, 1988, a catastrophic earthquake occurred in Armenia that claimed more than 25 thousand lives. The film tells about the first days after the tragedy.

La Bonga

Decades after they were forced to flee their village in the Colombian jungle, a community makes a poetically rendered return home.