A tale of 22 women preyed on by Japan army

Twenty Two has already set many records for a documentary film. When the film's financer withdrew because its failure was almost "predictable", the director took the baton. When the filmmakers couldn't pay the distribution and publicity expenses, 32,099 people crowdfunded it through the internet. When it was not faring well on the cinema circuit, netizens "crowdfunded" it again, making it the fourth-most popular summer release, and raising its box office revenue to about 150 million yuan ($22.51 million) in 10 days.

Short three years ago, the documentary records the daily lives and memories of the last 22 women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during its occupation of China who were still alive on the Chinese mainland. There were about 200,000 such women in China.

About 4 million people have watched the film in cinemas, with many literally crying, but a greater number lost in thought in their seats only for the sweepers to bring them back to the present. For the audience, the film also provides some perplexing moments when the women sew self-mocking humor into the fabric of their stories - people cannot quite fathom how to react to such black humor.