Mardiyem
~Indonesian Comfort Woman~

Synopsis:

This is the story of a noble and strong woman who has survived a cruel life, and her travel back to confront her past.

Mardiyem is a former Indonesian comfort woman. Comfort woman is a term that refers to sex slaves provided for Japanese imperial soldiers during WWII. Several thousand women were forced to be comfort women all over Asia.

Mardiyem was born into a family working as servants in the Yogyakarta Palace. At the age of 13 she was deceived with an invitation to achieve her dream of being a singer, and was then forced to be a comfort woman.

She now represents former comfort women in Indonesia in their fight against both the Japanese and Indonesian Government. However, the negotiations related to formal compensation are currently at a standstill. Furthermore, the prejudice against former comfort women in Indonesian society is deep rooted, and their numbers are decreasing daily through deaths.

Feeling there is little time left in her life, she decided to visit Borneo Island for the first time in 55 years, the site of her life as comfort woman - a visit to look back and also get some perspective on her life.