Tearless

Tearless does not tell a story; instead, it brings the viewer into the experience of a place called Monkey House. Following the Korean War, roughly 25,000 US soldiers per year have resided in the US military bases in South Korea, occupying nearly one fifth of the nation’s habitable land. The Korean and US governments worked together to establish 96 camp towns equipped with brothels and clubs around the US military bases, which have involved one million women. In the 1970s, the Korean government required camp town women to wear number tags and Sexually Transmitted Diseases test results on their chests at all times, pressured by the US government to lower STD rates among their soldiers. The women who were suspected to have STD were locked up in a detainment center and treated with harsh doses of penicillin that resulted in severe side effects and occasional deaths. Some women jumped to their deaths trying to escape. The detention center was given the nickname Monkey House because people could hear the women screaming to be let out like monkeys trapped in a zoo. Although no longer in operation, the Monkey House building still remains, claimed by no one, a haunted site between two modern nations. 

The nine-decade issue of Korean comfort women for the US military is more important than ever – it is the origin story of the fetishization of and violence against Asian women in the US. These US military comfort women embody the ruins and contradictions of the 20th century, and yet they have received neither reparations nor public recognition. Tearless aims to bring forward the experiences of these women while they are still alive. Their voices must be heard, their tears must be felt, and the women who did not survive – the ghosts that haunt the 21st century – deserve a long overdue reckoning.

PRODUCTION 1: Gina Kim – Cyan Films
102 East Melnitz Hall, Box 951622
CA 90095-1622 - Los Angeles, USA
Tel. +82 10-8206-3783
cyanfilms2013@gmail.com
http://www.ginakimfilms.com

PRODUCTION 2: Zoe Sua Cho – Mass Ornament Films
Hannamdaero 27 gil, 26-20, 5F, Yongsan-gu
04399 – Seoul, Korea (Republic of)
Tel. +1 312 898 0364
Mob. +82 10 4730 1005
zoe@massornament.com
http://www.massornament.com

PRODUCTION 3: Sam Jeon –Venta VR
1010, 10F, Nuridream square R D Tower, Worldcupbuk-ro 396
03925 – Seoul, Korea (Republic of)
Tel. +82 2 2132 5554
s3d@ventavr.com

PRESS OFFICE: Cyan Films
102 East Melnitz Hall, Box 951622
CA 90095-1622 - Los Angeles, USA
Tel. +82 10-8206-3783
cyanfilms2013@gmail.com
http://www.ginakimfilms.com