'The Defector' Film Premieres at IDFA

Via DocGeeks November 17th, 2012

Last December we reported on the The Defector documentary while it was still being produced by the award-winning Fathom Film Group. Their kickstarter project achieved its funding goal on December 11, 2011 and the post production of this film was completed. Now this movie has been selected to premiere at the prestigious International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA). Filmed undercover by Korean-Canadian filmmaker Ann Shin, this documentary will be showing at the IDFA from November 14-25. Shin had this to say about the film:

“The film has been 3 years in the making and we’re excited to be launching at IDFA” says Producer/Director Ann Shin. “It’s about a human smuggler who deals with desperate North Koreans wanting to escape."

Here is the new trailer for this movie:



The Defector: Escape from North Korea will also be released online as a first-person POV interactive web documentary. This will enable viewers to experience what it is really like to be a defector! This mixed media motion picture will also be shown at upcoming festivals and broadcast on TVO, Canal D and CTS in 2013.



See also:

Canadian DPRK Documentary "The Defector"

Premiere of "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone"

North Korean Concentration Camp Drawings

Beat Takeshi Kitano's "Outrage Beyond"

Via The Festival | tiff.net September 10, 2012

In 2010 Beat Takeshi Kitano returned to the popular crime/yakuza tough guy film genre that originally made him world famous with the release of Outrage. Now he is coming back again with the sequel to the original movie called Outrage Beyond. And from first look at the trailer, this follow up film looks to be just as hard hitting and action packed as the beginning blockbuster:



Outrage Beyond will have a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, September 12 at 5:30 pm. For more information please visit the official website of the Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF.net.



See also: Photo of Takeshi Kitano & His Statue

Premiere of "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone"

This horrifying documentary film is based on the life of Shin Dong-Huyk who was born in the North Korean re-education Camp 14 located in Kaechon, South Pyongan Province. Shin had no concept of the world outside the camp until he escaped at the age of 23. To date he is the only known person to have been born within and then successfully escaped from a maximum security camp in the DPRK. He tells a terrifying tale of extremely dangerous labor, daily beatings, inhumane torture, forced abortions, infanticide, public executions and cold-blooded murder committed by the prison guards. This film also includes the testimonies of Oh Yang-nam an ex-secret policeman and Hyuk Kwon a former guard at Camp 14. Below is the official movie trailer:



"Camp 14 - Total Control Zone" will premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival with the schedule of its showing to be announced on August 21st.

UPDATE: This film can now be seen on Netflix.

See also:

North Korean Concentration Camp Drawings

North Korean Poet's Rhymes of Murder, Despair

Canadian DPRK Documentary "The Defector"

Rimjin-gang's Underground North Korea News Update