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.
- Jan Banning
May 4th 1954, Almelo
Dutch photographer and artist. Banning was born in the Netherlands from Dutch-East-Indies parents. He studied social and economic history at the Radboud University Nijmegen, and has been working as a photographer since 1981. A central theme of Banning's practice is state power, having produced series about the long-term consequences of war and the world of government bureaucracy.
