Yodok Stories
Synopsis
Inside North Korea
Today, more than 300.000 men, women and children are locked up in North Korea’s concentration camps. Systematic torture, starvation and murder is what face the inmates. Few survive many years in the camps, but the population is kept stable by a steady influx of new persons considered to be ‘class enemies’.
A small group of people have managed to flee from the camps to a new life in the prosperous South Korea. Some of them gather and decide to make an extraordinary and controversial musical about their experiences in the Yodok concentration camp.
Despite death threats and many obstacles the musical becomes a tour de force for this ensemble of refugees. For them a possibility opens to talk about their experiences and inspire others to protest the existence of the camps.
Credits
Director:
Andrzej Fidyk
Producer:
Torstein Grude
Editor:
Marcin Mironowicz and Jan Mikolaj, Mironowicz PSM
Original Music:
Kyung Chan Cha and Bartlomiej Wozniak
Written by:
Andrzej Fidyk
DOP:
Tore Vollan and Torstein Grude
Cast
Kim Joung Soon
Jung Sung San
Lee Min Book
Kim Hyok
Kim Tae Jin
Lee Young Kuk
An Myong Chol
Production details
Original title
Yodok Stories
Year
2009
Length
Feature Film: 83 min, TV-versions: 58 and 52 min
Language
Korean and English
Subtitles
English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Norwegian, Polish, Korean, Japanese
Format
HDCam, BetaCam, 35 mm, Blu-Ray, DVD
Production company
Piraya Film, MG Production, Fallen8, The Rafto Foundation, TVP
Production country
Norway, Poland
Sales/Distribution
Kudos Family. Festival Distribution: The Norwegian Film Institute
Website
http://yodokfilm.com/
Awards & Festivals
Awards:
2010 Hollywood Eagle for Best Documentary, Polish Film Festival, USA
2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival: In the Spirit of Freedom Award
2009 Nominated for Best Cinematography, Plus Camerimage, Poland
2008 Joris Ivens Awards Finalist, IDFA, The Netherlands
2008 Planet Doc Review, Warsaw: Youth Jury Award
2008 Bergen International Film Festival: Youth Jury’s Documentary Award
Festivals:
2012 North Korean Human Rights Film Festival in Toronto, Canada
2011 Input, Seoul, South Korea
2010 The Art of the Document Festival, Warsaw, Poland
2010 Brisbane Underground Film Festival, Australia
2010 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA
2010 Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, Greece
2010 Victoria Film Festival, Canada
2009 Plus Camerimage, Poland
2009 Black Nights Film Festival, Estonia
2009 Århus filmfestival, Denmark
2009 Verzio Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Budapest
2009 People in Peril, Bratislava
2009 DMZ Docs, South Korea
2009 Document 7 – Int’l Human Rights Film Festival Glasgow
2009 Nagoya Refugee Film Festival, Japan
2009 Oakland Int. Film Festival, USA
2009 International Culture Forum, Sweden
2009 Nordisk Panorama 5 Cities Film Festival, Reykjavik
2009 Global Peace Film Festival, Orlando, USA
2009 Holocaust and Genocide International Films, Melbourne, Australia
2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival, Israel
2009 Senza Frontieri – Without Borders Film Festival, Rome
2009 Doxa Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver
2009 Tribeca Film Festival, USA
2009 Den norske dokumentarfilmfestivalen, Volda
2009 Beldocs, Beograd, Serbia 2009 Movies That Matter – Amnesty International Film Festival, Serbia
2009 Belfast Film Festival
2009 African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival, Milano
2009 One World Film Festival, Romania
2009 Amnesty International Film Festival Movies That Matters, The Netherlands
2009 One World Film Festival, Prague
2009 Festival du Film et Forum International sur les Droits Humains, Geneva
2008 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2008 Bergen Internasjonale Filmfestival
2008 Planet DocReview, Warsaw, Poland
Presskit
Images
Airballoon
Leaflets with information flying over border to North Korea
Director Andrzej Fidyk
Credit: Piraya Film as
Producer Torstein Grude
Credit: Piraya Film as
Director Jung Yodok Musical
Yodok Poster
Soldier
Jung Sung San
Main character Jung Sung San
Prayer
