Film Club: "The Lovers and the Despot"

Directors: Robert Cannan and Ross Adam
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 94 minutes
Language: Korean | Japanese | English with English subtitles

The film tells the story of young, ambitious South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee, who met and fell in love in 1950s post-war Korea. In the 70s, after reaching the top of Korean society following a string of successful films, Choi was kidnapped in Hong Kong by North Korean agents and taken to meet Kim Jong-il. While searching for Choi, Shin also was kidnapped, and following five years of imprisonment, the couple was reunited in North Korea by the movie-obsessed Kim, who declared them his personal filmmakers. Choi and Shin planned their escape, but not before producing 17 feature films for the dictator and gaining his trust in the process.

Directors’ statement: We can’t remember exactly when we first heard this story. For a long time it seemed to reside in our imaginations as a possibly apocryphal tale concocted by a career fabulist. It seemed far too outlandish to be true – a director and an actress kidnapped by a brutal dictator to improve his films. Many directors and actors have led fascinating lives and had passionate love affairs, but none have experienced such a thrilling melodrama as Choi and Shin. As a film about filmmakers caught up in a narrative beyond their own making, it had particular appeal for us – as storytellers – in the possibilities of its telling.