VWI VISUALS: GRANDMA’S TATTOOS

GRANDMA’S TATTOOS is a powerful documentary that reveals the fate of thousands of forgotten women, mostly teenagers and young girls, who survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide but were forced into prostitution by their captors. Many of these women were tattooed as a permanent mark of their status.

Filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian begins the film by remembering her grandmother: »Grandma Khanoum was not like everyone else. She had blue tattoos on her face and hands. Strange marks that frightened us children … She despised physical contact. She never hugged anyone, never gave kisses. And she always wore gloves, which hid her hands and her tattoos, and her secret.« Haunted by these memories, Khardalian embarks on a personal journey into her family history to investigate the truth behind her late grandmother. An important documentary work that breaks through decades of silence, GRANDMA’S TATTOOS tells a personal story that is indeed universal – the fate of women in conflicts and wars.