GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – “25 words”, a low-budget first documentary by Liu Shen about three sisters who shared Red Cross messages during the second world war, has taken a bronze medal at the WorldFest-Houston International Independent Film Festival, the oldest independent film festival in the world.
He began the film shortly after one of the sisters, a former neighbour of his in northeastern China, died at age 98. Her two sisters were in their 90s and he says in an interview for the Red Cross Resource Centre that he felt the pressure of time as he realized the importance of telling their tale. The three lived in Nanjing, China, Berlin, Germany and Berkeley, California, USA during the war and the messages gradually relay their family tale.
