Documentary 'Journey Home' focuses on war orphans

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the documentary "Journey Home," commissioned by China's National Radio and Television Administration, will premiere on Dragon TV at 10pm on Tuesday. It will also be simultaneously launched on major domestic online platforms.

Concurrently, the documentary will release multilingual versions, including Japanese and English, and is scheduled for global broadcast around September 3 on such media outlets as Phoenix Satellite TV and Radio Hong Kong. Its core objective is to expose the atrocities of fascists to the world, and foster a global consensus on cherishing peace.

"Journey Home" takes a unique perspective, focusing on the group of Japanese war orphans who were left behind in China after World War II and raised by Chinese adoptive parents. Through a unique lens, the film documents the current lives of several octogenarian orphans in both China and Japan.

The documentary is fully produced in 4K Ultra HD. It portrays the orphans' destinies through observational documentary techniques, objectively recording their present realities with plain language and visually sincere, aesthetically compelling imagery.

As the surviving Japanese orphans are now all in their 80s, the production team conducted emergency filming across multiple locations in China and Japan. They interviewed 15 orphans, ultimately featuring the stories of six orphans and one second-generation orphan, amassing over 200 hours of ultra-high-definition footage.

By reflecting the cruelty and enduring impact of the war of aggression through individual destinies, the film resonates with universal human emotions. Through first-person narratives, it not only restores the boundless love of the Chinese adoptive parents but also viscerally conveys the deep, lasting wounds inflicted by war on the world.