Spirits’ Homecoming
Red HD, HyppTV Ch 227, 10.05pm
This 2016 South Korean drama is set in 1943 during the Japanese occupation and tells the story of young Korean women who were captured and forced to serve as comfort women. The production ran into financial difficulties but was rescued by crowdfunding. Then, certain theatres reportedly refused to screen the film but patrons bought tickets in advance and signed petitions for more cinemas to run it; it eventually ended up No. 1 at the South Korean box-office on its opening weekend. Director Cho Jung-rae was inspired to make the film by a painting drawn by Kang Il-chul, who was herself abused and forced to be a comfort woman for the Japanese. The title refers to a homecoming ritual for the spirits of those who were killed when they were no longer deemed to be “of use”.