Weekend of Comfort Women Herstory

by Christian Poirot 

This weekend is one for the history of the Comfort Women. There are a number of opportunities, especially in Washington, DC. to discuss and consider the history of the Comfort Women and its unique form of sexual violence in conflict. Most of the events below employ the arts to communicate the universal emotions of the trauma and tragedy.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9

[DC] GEORGETOWN GENDER+JUSTICE INITIATIVE’S THIRD ANNUAL FACULTY RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM. 11/9, 1:00-6:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Georgetown Gender+Justice Initiative. Speakers include: Deborah Epstein, Professor of Law, GTU Law; Lisa Singh, Professor, Department of Computer Science, GTU; Jamillah Williams, Associate Professor of Law, GTU Law; Naomy Mezey, Professor of Law, GTU Law; Lane Windham, Fellow, Kalmanovitz Initiative; Kris Tiscione, Professor of Law, GTU Law.

[DC] US DEBUT SCREENING OF NEW DOCUMENTARY ON COMFORT WOMEN CONTROVERSY: SHUSENJO. 11/9, 4:00-6:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: History Department, Georgetown University. Speaker: Miki Dezani, filmmaker who says he interviewed some of the most prominent figures in the debate in Japan and Korea.

[DC] SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WARFARE: THE FILMS OF UNHEALED WOUNDS FILM FESTIVAL. 11/9-11, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Washington Coalition for Comfort Women (WCCW) and American University. Films: Nine international films highlight the history and trauma of the “Comfort Women” (CW). Four of the films are from Korea, two from Australia, and one each from China, Canada, and the Netherlands. The lives of Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, and Indonesian former Comfort Women are portrayed. At Noon on Sunday, November 11th there will be a roundtable discussion with the directors and experts on “The Art of the Witness” examining the importance of the arts in conveying the history of the CW and in preserving CW voices.
NOVEMBER 9
6:00 - 8:00PM I Can Speak (119 min)
8:00 - 8:30 Director's Talk
8:30 - 10:00 Reception

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10

[DC] SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WARFARE: THE FILMS OF UNHEALED WOUNDS FILM FESTIVAL [SEE ABOVE]
10:00 - 11:00 50 Years of Silence (57 min)
11:00 - 11:15 Daily Bread (15 min)
11:15 - 11:45 Director's Talk
11:45 - 12:15 Break & Snack
12:15 - 1:15 Because We Were Beautiful (60 min)
1:15 - 1:40 Discussion
1:40 - 2:00 Break & Snack
2:00 - 3:40 Twenty Two (99 min)
3:40 - 4:00 Discussion
4:00 - 5:00 Break & Snack
5:00 - 7:10 Spirits' Homecoming (127 min)
7:10 - 7:50 Cocktail / Refreshment
7:50 - 8:30 Ae-Eum-Gil (100 min)
8:30 - 10:00 Director's Talk

[TOKYO] INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: VOICES OF THE ‘COMFORT WOMEN’: REMEMBERING & RECONSTRUCTING. 11/10, 10:00am-6:00pm, Tokyo, Japan. Sponsor: International Joint Nomination Committee (ICJN). Speakers: Heisoon Shin, Director, ICJN Secretariat; Ustinia Dolgopol, Associated Professor, Flinders University; Lilian Sing, Co-chair, “Comfort Women” Justice Coalition; Yasushi Higashizawa (Lawyer); Hye-In Han, Team Leader, ICJN Secretariat; Eriko Ikeda, Commissioner, Japanese Committee; Hyun-Gyung Kim, Post-doc researcher, Berlin Free University; Phyllis Kim, Executive Director, Korean American Forum of California; Shu-Mei Huang, Assistant Professor, National Taiwan University; Edward Vickers, Professor, Kyushu University; Hyun-Kyung Lee, Post-doc researcher, University of Cambridge, Seoul National University; Akihisa Matsuno, Professor, Osaka University; Hye-In Han, Team Leader, ICJN Secretariat; Marie Louise Stig Sorensen, Professor, University of Cambridge; Mary McCarthy, Associated Professor, Drake University; Linda Hasunuma, Visiting Professor, University of Bridgeport; Yujie Zhu, Lecturer, Australian National University; Mina Watanabe, Japanese Committee, Director, Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM); Phyllis Kim, Korean American Forum of California.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11

[DC] SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WARFARE: THE FILMS OF UNHEALED WOUNDS FILM FESTIVAL [SEE ABOVE]

10:00 - 10:15 For Her (14 min)
10:20 - 12:04 The Apology (104 min)
12:04 - 12:30 Director's Talk

12:30-2:00pm - Roundtable Discussion on The Art of the Witness: Film in Persevering the History of the Comfort Women. Directors will discuss their work with history and media scholars. Free. Lite Lunch. Media Innovation Lab, McKinley Bldg., Rm 100.
WITH Ms. Mindy Kotler, Director, Asia Policy Point (Ms. Kotler is a public historian who works on the intersection of history and politics in Northeast Asia. She writes on the progress toward historical justice for the Comfort Women and the American POWs of Japan. In 2007, she assisted Congressman Mike Honda in 2007 in writing and defending his House Resolution 121 that asked Japan for an unequivocal, official apology to the Comfort Women.) and Dr. Greg Metcalf, Lecturer Twentieth-Century Art, Film, Department of Art History and Archaeology, University of Maryland, College Park (Dr. Metcalf teaches Film and Twentieth Century Art for the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has a B.A. in Art/East Asian Studies/Political Science (St. Olaf), an M.F.A. in Painting and Graphics (Bowling Green) and a Ph.D. in Art and Culture (UMCP).)

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11TH AND BEYOND
SCREENING AND DISCUSSION OF THE APOLOGY DIRECTED BY TIFFANY HSIUNG.

[PORTLAND, OR] 11/13, 6:00pm. Sponsor: People Organizing for Philippine Solidarity (POPS)and FeND. Location: US Bank Room, Multnomah Central Library, 801 SW 10th Ave, Portland, Oregon. https://www.facebook.com/events/285638112158553/

LOS ANGELES, CA: 11/15, Co-sponsored by Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress, Progressive Asian Network for Action, Korean American Forum of California, Japanese American Women Speak (JAWS), Survivor Love Letter, Tomorrow Girls Troop, and FeND and will include an all-Japanese/Japanese American panel of activists/artists/scholars following the film, https://www.facebook.com/events/887947484928010/

SEATTLE, WA: 12/8, Co-sponsored by API Chaya, Densho, Pacific Rim Solidarity Network (Parisol), Gabriela Seattle, Seattle Evergreen Coalition, International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) Seattle, Northwest Film Forum, and the Women’s Commission of the City of Seattle as well as FeND. Https://www.facebook.com/events/1957810347850205/