Voices of the Silenced

Park Soo-nam was many things in her long life: a writer, single mother, BBQ restaurant owner, activist and above all a documentary film-maker. Now she’s well into her eighties and losing her eyesight. With great care, love and a shared sense of humour, her daughter Park Maeui takes on the transgenerational task of conveying her mother’s important legacy to our present times, in which fascism and militarism are on the rise worldwide. This film, made with and about her mother, opens up a rich, decolonial archive: born in Japan as the descendant of Korean immigrants from the colonial period, Park Soo-nam made it her life’s work to document her community’s experiences of violence that had been repressed by Japanese society. She interviewed countless contemporary witnesses: survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of massacres, forced labour, forced mobilisation and comfort women (sex slaves). This collaborative film, and her mother’s film material in it, document an alternative history and preserve that community’s memories. Alongside the words of those who suffered injury to life and limb, their work together focuses on the expressive power of the body.