Now Available to Book: "Defectors" – The Korean War Still Isn't Over

South Korean filmmaker Hyun kyung Kim grew up with the inherited burden of the Korean War, a conflict that left an indelible mark on her family and country. Her mother compulsively fills the house with items she finds on the streets of Seoul while her veteran father devours books about the war.

The filmmaker’s encounter with a North Korean defector mirrors the story of her grandfather, who likely stayed in the North when the country became divided, never to be seen again by his family. Defectors confronts the
impact of a brutal war on several generations of the filmmaker’s family.

Reviews

"South Korean filmmaker Hyun kyung Kim confronts the impact of the Korean War on different generations in her latest documentary Defectors. The film, which played in competition at the 15th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, is also a deeply personal work focusing on the director, her family, and the very meaning of 'defection'."

Matt Schley / Screen International

"With rare emotion and sensitivity, the director confronts the impact of the war on several generations while revealing the weight it still exerts to this day. Defectors offers a poignant perspective on the collective wound inflicted by the war and questions what it means to be separated from those you love."

Alice Riva / Visions du Réel

Producer's Note from Ross McElwee

''This year marks the 73th anniversary of the Korean war armistice, but the existence of the Korean War is technically intact – and threatened more than ever, thanks to Kim Jong Un and his missile program. The war in Ukraine continues unabated. Millions of Ukrainian refugees remain unable to return to their homeland, displaced like both the North Korean diplomat and the filmmaker’s mother in Defectors. A war that was waged 73 years ago is, tragically, being replicated in Ukraine today.''

Director’s Biography

Hyun kyung Kim is an independent filmmaker from Seoul, South Korea who has

directed and edited four feature-length documentaries about people’s struggles under

adverse social and political situations. Kim earned degrees in film at New York

University and California Institute of the Arts and went on to direct numerous short

documentaries for MBC, a South Korean TV network. Her films have won a number of

awards and were screened in many international film festivals and art venues including

The Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, FIDMarseille, Viennale, BAFICI, Busan

International Film Festival, Visions du Réel and many more. She is a recipient of

Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship in 2008.