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Kim Hyang-ki (left) and Kim Sae-ron playing girls who were mobilized as comfort women

A feature film and a documentary about Japanese military comfort women will be coming to theaters this March.

The film “Snowy Road” debuts on Mar. 1, while the documentary “The Apology” opens on Mar. 16. The British film “The Eichmann Show” is set to open alongside “Snowy Road” on Mar. 1, with proceeds to be donated to comfort women survivors.

“Snowy Road” tells the story of the friendship between two girls from a woman’s perspective. Jong-bun (Kim Hyang-ki) and Yeong-ae (Kim Sae-ron) are two girls of the same age living in the same village, but with different home environments and personalities. Jong-bun is from a poor family and cannot read Korean, but treasures a copy of “A Little Princess” given to her by Yeong-ae’s father Yeong-ju. Yeong-ae is loyal to the Japanese Emperor and resentful of her independence fighter father. While her mother is at the market selling brassware, Jong-bun is abducted by Japanese soldiers. Yeong-ae, who screamed “I’m going to Japan” after Jong-bun’s train, is captured as well. Alongside the story from the occupation are scenes from Jong-bun as an adult (now played by Kim Yeong-ok), who is living as Yeong-ae. Eun-su (Jo Su-hyang), a wayward young girl living in Jong-bun‘s building, comes to her at a moment of crisis asking for help.

in “Snowy Road” (provided by At 9 Film)

As it chronicles its female protagonists’ stories from past and present, the film strives not to sensationalize their lives.

“I took care not to use the moments of terrible violence as cinematic spectacle,” said director Kim Na-jeong while speaking to reporters after a preview of the film on Feb. 13.

Writer Ryu Bo-ra, who submitted the initial plan for the film, said she “tried to concentrate on the girls‘ dreams in those days.”

For a trailer, the filmmakers made a music video featuring Lee Hyo-ri’s song “Don‘t Forget Me.” Upgraded into a film version from a special two-part KBS series broadcast for the March 1 holiday in 2015, the film was submitted for the Jeonju International Film Festival that year and the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival last year. Lee Na-jeong’s other work includes the TV miniseries “The Innocent Man.”

The promotional poster for “Snowy Road”

“The Apology” focused on international solidarity among comfort women survivors. Director Tiffany Hsiung, a Canadian of Chinese descent, spent six years filming survivors in China, the Philippines, and South Korea. Each shows a different situation. In South Korea, the documentary follows committed activist Gil Won-ok participating in the 1,000th of the demonstrations held in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul every Wednesday for the past 20 years. Survivors in the Philippines, including one identified as Adela, began testifying to their victimization in the 2010s. In China, a survivor named Cao recovers her memories before the camera. As she reveals her hidden secrets, her shocked daughter bursts into tears. The solidarity reaches its peak in a scene of petitions from the different countries for the UN Human Rights Council to address the comfort women issue.

Former comfort woman Gil Won-ok during a weekly Wednesday demonstration outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul

Directed by Paul Andrew Williams, “The Eichmann Show” is a dramatization of the story of producers filming the world’s first live broadcast of the “trial of the century,” with Adolf Eichmann, a figure implicated in the Holocaust, appearing before an Israeli court on Apr. 11, 1961. A multinational production team arrives in Jerusalem to relay the proceedings and ends up struggling to meet the difficult demands of Israeli authorities. The film also includes scenes from the trial broadcast. The image of Eichmann brazenly claiming he is innocent in terms of indictment procedure recalls recent events in South Korea.

A caption at the end of “Snowy Road” states, “As of January 1, 2017, 199 of the 239 registered comfort women survivors have passed away and only forty remain alive.” Adela passed away during the filming of “The Apology.”

By Ku Dool-rae, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]