While continuing the research for “Law and Order”, in cooperation with the German magazine GEO and the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg, I came across the film documentary “Impunity”, by Juan José Lozano and Hollman Morris, on the trials against the Colombian paramilitary, and the political and economic interests behind them. It was shown at the “Movies that Matter” festival in The Hague. “Impunity” is not only a courageous film (at least one of the directors having received death threats), but also very moving, both on an emotional and on an intellectual level.
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Rijksmuseum purchases Comfort Women and Traces of War
The Rijksmuseum (Dutch national museum in Amsterdam) has decided it will purchase the complete series of “Comfort Women” (18 prints) and “Traces of War” (24 prints), for its permanent collection.
Comfort Women selected into PDN Photo Annual 2011
The photobook “COMFORT Women” was selected into the PDN Photo Annual 2011.This and the other winners will be published in the June 2011 issue of PDN (Photo District News, NY).
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Film Documentary on “Comfort Women” awarded prize at BMFF
The film documentary “Because we were beautiful” by Frank van Osch was awarded the prize for “Best Documentary” at the Big Muddy Film Festival,
Filmmaker Frank van Osch traveled through Indonesia where he searched for former “comfort women”, together with photographer Jan Banning (World Press Photo Award 2004) and journalist Hilde Janssen. During the Second World War these women were forced to carry out sexual activities in military brothels, encampments and Japanese barracks.
The film was broadcast on Dutch national television, August 15, 2010.
Bureaucratics exhibition in Kazakhstan
On February 17, “Bureaucratics” opened in Astana, Kazachstan, in the Contemporary Art Center Kulanshi. The exhibition was organized by the Dutch embassy. The opening attracted an impressive number of visitors, the big majority of them young people. For my presentation, the next morning – with an outside temperature of minus 27 degrees Celsius – the gallery had put up some 40 seats in a small meeting room. By the time I started, 110 attendants had shown up. I had the impression that the the idea behind the series – the slightly ironic perspective on state authorities and institutes – was not lost on these Kazakh visitors.
The exhibition in Astana ends on March 24, 2011. There are plans to then move it to Almati and show it there.
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