The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation yesterday marked Human Rights Day by donating the original reels for the documentary A Secret Buried for 50 Years (阿媽的秘密) to the Taiwan Film Institute.
Directed by Yang Chia-yun (楊家雲), the 1998 film tells the stories of 13 “comfort women” in Taiwan, the foundation said.
It was the first time that Taiwan’s comfort women spoke about their experiences in front of a camera, it said.
Photo: CNA
Funded by the foundation, the film won best documentary at the 35th Golden Horse Awards.
The foundation decided to donate the original reels to the institute to ensure they are preserved more professionally, it said.
At a ceremony held at the Ama Museum in Taipei’s Datong District (大同), foundation president Theresa Yeh (葉德蘭) said she hopes the donation will allow more people to see the pain brought by war.
The institute is “honored” to accept the donation, institute director Wang Chun-Chi (王君琦) said, adding that one of the institute’s important missions is to ensure that history is not forgotten.
Yang said 14 women had originally agreed to appear in the documentary, but one of them changed her mind after filming was completed, because she felt she would not be able to face her friends and family after the film was released.
For the other women, the filming process provided a form of release, she said, adding that they felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from their hearts.
More than 20 years have passed since the film was released, but the women have yet to receive the justice they deserve, Yang said.
“We can forgive ... but we cannot forget what happened,” she said.
“We must continue to fight for the justice [the comfort women] deserve,” she said. “We must continue to protest with the Japanese government ... for them to apologize.”
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern