Emotional tale of China’s 22 surviving wartime sex slaves becomes box office hit
The movie will make its debut in Australia and the United States later this week
When the topic was deemed politically sensitive for China’s movie-goers, Guo Ke, the director of Twenty Two, a documentary about “comfort women”, said he did not expect his film to be financially successful.
But the work surprised Guo, by going on to become China’s highest grossing documentary.
“When I was making this film, many people told me it is very sensitive and the authorities would regard the group of comfort women as the nation’s humiliation,” Guo Ke told the South China Morning Post in an interview. “A lot of my friends warned that it could not pass the scrutiny of the national broadcast watchdog.”
But the film did receive permission from the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television to become the first documentary on the topic ever publicly released in China.
About six million people have flocked to mainland cinemas to watch the movie since it made its debut on August 14, International Comfort Women Memorial Day. It has raked in more than 160 million yuan (US$24.4 million), becoming the sole documentary to amass ticket income greater than 100 million yuan in mainland China.
“I didn’t expect so many people are interested in this film. I am very content with the result so far,” said Guo, adding that he hadn’t had any expectations for the film’s box office proceeds.