Tiffany Hsiung (left), writer and director of The Apology, and Grandma Cao at Cao's home last year. Provided to China Daily
Grandma Cao lives in a rural mountain village in China, where what happened to hundreds of local girls after they were kidnapped has long been a well known secret among the old-timers of the area. It was only when a historian requested her testimony of her war experiences that Grandma Cao agreed to break decades of stoic silence and talk about her painful past.
Likewise, Grandma Adela hid the truth about her past from her husband. Now widowed, she is wracked with feelings of guilt for not sharing her secret with him. She resolved to tell her children, but remains unsure whether unburdening herself after all these years will make up for withholding the truth from the love of her life.
"Time is running out, if we don't capture their stories, if we don't hear it from them, it will be too late," said Hsiung, who is of Chinese descent and based in Toronto.
She started documenting the lives of former "comfort women" in 2009. Released last year, the film has garnered several honors, including the Busan Cinephile Award at the Busan International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 2016 Cork Film Festival and it was named Film of the Year at the West Lake International Documentary Festival in China.
While the film has traveled internationally, it's still new to the US. It will be screened in San Francisco from June 8-11 and from there travel to New York and other US cities for screenings.
Hsiung said the majority of US audiences don't really know much about the issue, but the reaction they get is what they had hoped for — deeply felt compassion.
"The film is for a universal audience. You don't have to be Asian to understand or feel connected to these women, the things that they continuously go through and how incredibly strong and resilient they are," she said.
The biggest message of the film is for people to understand the role that they all potentially play in the shame.
"I think we can all do a better job of listening to the survivors of sexual violence so that they can pass that on," she said. "We can all make that change. It's a small change, but I think it has a really big impact."
