New documentaries show how N. Korea is changing, despite Kim Jong Un
Two new documentaries on North Korea are promising us brave and original journalism about life in North Korea, as the vast majority of North Koreans somehow live it.
A long-time reader writes to tell me that the Heritage Foundation will be screening a new documentary, “The Defector,” on December 5th, at 5:30 p.m., and that Shin Dong Hyok will be in attendance. Here is how the film’s website describes it:
Dragon is a human smuggler who leads North Korean defectors across borders for a living. His latest undercover trip with Sook-Ja and Yong-hee takes an unexpected turn when they are left stranded in China, putting their dramatic escape plan into question. Their perilous journey reflects the reality of tens of thousands of North Koreans currently in hiding in China. Filmed undercover by a Korean-Canadian filmmaker, Ann Shin gets intimate access with these three individuals in this POV film and explores universal questions about human rights, smuggling and the pursuit of freedom.
The film’s producer is Korean-Canadian Ann Shin, who profiles the film and adds a trailer at this New York Times blog. You can see more here, and a Yahoo News report here. The previews suggest that human traffickers are stepping in to fill the void created by a system of international law that has broken down in the face of China’s intransigence.
There is another new film that I hope readers will help me watch out for — “Life Inside the Secret State,” produced by Jiro Ishimaru, the man behind the guerrilla cameras of Rimjingang. Life Inside the Secret State focuses on the tough North Korean women who are the reluctant agents of broad economic, social, and even political change in North Korea. This post carries a discussion between Ishimaru and Rajiv Narayan of Amnesty International:
“I was genuinely struck by those women…it’s so satisfying to see these individuals [having the] self confidence to stand up to authority. . . . Women for the first time ever are the people who are going to the market and earning a living, so they’ve become the people pushing the boundaries of these changes.”
You can read reviews here, here, and here. If anyone hears word that this film will be screened in the Washington area, kindly drop me a line.
For all the whining I do about dull, uninformative, pretentious minder-guided reporting from Pyongyang, I feel doubly obligated to support journalism and filmmaking that show courage and take real, physical risks to tell us the truth. I hope you’ll seek these films out, see them, tell your friends, and tell me what you thought about them.