22 Sep 2016
The Lovers and the Despot
Hong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.
Bureau 39: Kim's Cash Machine
How is it possible that North Korea, one of the poorest countries on earth finances a nuclear weapons program large enough to challenge the USA? The answer: Bureau 39, a legendary organization nestled deep inside the government apparatus. Its aim is to procure foreign exchange by any means possible to provide Kim Jong-un’s regime with money.
Top Billed Cast
Remco Breuker Self
Hugh Griffiths Self
Kyun-Chul Seong Self
Koh Young-Hwan Self
Simon Choi Self
Similar movies
The Lovers and the Despot The Lovers and the Despot Cinema in the Land of Comrade Kim 
Cinema in the Land of Comrade Kim 12 Oct 2024
Cinema in the Land of Comrade Kim
The love of Kim Jong Il, the former dictator of North Korea, for cinema and his adventures, including the kidnapping of a director.
Crossing the Line 
Crossing the Line 16 Oct 2006
Crossing the Line
In 1962, a U.S. soldier sent to guard the peace in South Korea deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily fortified area on earth and defected to the Cold War enemy, the communist state of North Korea. He became a star of the North Korean propaganda machine, but then disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, after 45 years, the story of James Dresnok, the last American defector in North Korea, is being told for the first time. Crossing the Line follows Dresnok as he recalls his childhood, desertion, and life in the DPRK.
I Am Sun Mu 
I Am Sun Mu 03 Oct 2015
I Am Sun Mu
Operating under a pseudonym which means 'no boundaries' - North Korean defector Sun Mu creates political pop art based on his life, homeland, and hope for a future united Korea. His hidden identity is nearly compromised when a massive historical exhibit in Beijing is shuttered by Chinese and North Korean authorities.
Under the Sun 
Under the Sun 30 Oct 2015
Under the Sun
Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il's birthday) celebration. While North Korean government wanted a propaganda film, the director kept on filming between the scripted scenes. The ritualized explosions of color and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal.
Korea, A Hundred Years of War 
Korea, A Hundred Years of War 11 Jun 2020
Korea, A Hundred Years of War
A contemporary history of Korea(s) from a unique point of view that embraces the inner history of both South and North Korea in a single narrative.
North Korea: A Day in the Life 
North Korea: A Day in the Life 01 Jan 2004
North Korea: A Day in the Life
If the cityscapes and patriotic anthems of this film seem a far cry from the bleak landscape of Seoul Train, that's no accident. Dutch filmmaker Pieter Fleury, with the full permission and cooperation of the North Korean government, created this propaganda film that gives us a glimpse of a day in the life of one of the world's most enigmatic societies. A Day in the Life, largely dictated by the North Korean film bureau, follows a typical North Korean family through their daily duties, largely dedicated to the pride in the North Korean nation of comrades and the glory of General Kim Jong Il. The film is meant to extol the success of modern North Korea. But does it? With straight footage and a total absence of narration, viewers may interpret Fleury's film in a slightly different manner than intended
Cold Case Hammarskjöld 
Cold Case Hammarskjöld 07 Feb 2019
Cold Case Hammarskjöld
Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (currently Zambia), September 18, 1961. Swedish economist and diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the UN, dies mysteriously in a plane crash. Decades later, Danish journalist and filmmaker Mads Brügger and Swedish researcher Göran Björkdahl investigate the case in search of definitive closure.
Kimjongilia 
Kimjongilia 18 Jan 2009
Kimjongilia
The first film to fully expose the humanitarian crisis of North Korea, this stylish, deeply moving documentary is centered around astonishing interviews with survivors of North Korea's vast and largely hidden prison camps, and interspersed with archival footage of North Korean propoganda films and original art performances.
North Korea's Secret Slaves: Dollar Heroes 
North Korea's Secret Slaves: Dollar Heroes 27 Oct 2018
North Korea's Secret Slaves: Dollar Heroes
Shrouded in secrecy and notoriously cash-strapped the North Korean regime has resorted to running one of the world's largest slaving operations - exploiting the profits to fulfil their own agenda. These bonded labourers can be found in Russia, China and dozens of other countries around the world including EU member states. Featuring undercover footage and powerful testimonials, we reveal the scale and brutality of the operation and ask what, if anything, is being done to stop it.
Sona, the Other Myself 
Sona, the Other Myself 12 Feb 2010
Sona, the Other Myself
Documentary focuses on Sona, the daughter of the director’s brother who moved to North Korea from Japan in the early 1970s. Through Sona, the film shows the generation that migrated from Japan to North Korea and their offspring who were born and raised in North Korea.
Kim Il Sung's Children 
Kim Il Sung's Children 25 Jun 2020
Kim Il Sung's Children
From 1950 to 1953, one hundred thousand children were orphaned by the Korean War. With no resources to mend the wounds, the two sides, North and South, took different paths to find homes and families for the war orphans. While the children of South Korea were sent to Europe and the United States through ‘International Adoption’, the children of North Korea were distributed across Eastern Europe through a method called ‘Commissioned Education’. As a result, more than five thousand children from the North had to spend nearly a decade living in foreign lands across Eastern Europe. This story is a record of their lives, which used to be kept hidden from the rest of the world. There is a key to understanding how North Korea's closed political structure began and how the ‘Juche ideology’ was formed in this documentary movie. Understanding North Korea in the 1950s is an important way to understand North Korea at present.
Inside North Korea 
Inside North Korea 05 Mar 2006
Inside North Korea
Join National Geographic's Lisa Ling as she captures a rare look inside North Korea - something few Americans have ever been able to do. Posing as an undercover medical coordinator and closely guarded throughout her trip, Lisa moves inside the most isolated nation in the world, encountering a society completely dominated by government and dictatorship. Glimpse life inside North Korea as you've never seen before with personal accounts and powerful footage. Witness first-hand efforts by humanitarians and the challenges they face from the rogue regime.
Homes Apart: Korea 
Homes Apart: Korea 02 Jan 1991
Homes Apart: Korea
They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.
The Pigeon People 
The Pigeon People 01 Jan 2023
The Pigeon People
Directed by Patrick Gramm, 'The Pigeon People' (2023) takes you deep into Arizona's underground pigeon racing scene as racing rivals prepare for and compete in the Grand Canyon Classic - a 350-mile pigeon race from Utah to Arizona that crosses over the Grand Canyon.
Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography 
Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography 23 Sep 2015
Kim Jong-un: The Unauthorized Biography
A journey through several countries to find those who really know Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, in an attempt to profile a contradictory dictator who seems to rule his nation with both disturbing benevolence and cold cruelty while being worshipped as a living god by his subjects in exalted displays of ridiculous fanaticism.
North Korea: All the Dictator's Men 
North Korea: All the Dictator's Men 23 May 2018
North Korea: All the Dictator's Men
North Korea has nuclear weapons. How did it manage to get them quietly? Donald Trump is under the impression that as US president he could convince Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to disarm his nuclear weapons and make peace with South Korea. But how was it possible that one of the poorest countries in the world could acquire the knowledge to produce nuclear-tipped rockets?
The Mole: Undercover in North Korea 
The Mole: Undercover in North Korea 11 Oct 2020
The Mole: Undercover in North Korea
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Korea: The Never-Ending War 
Korea: The Never-Ending War 29 Apr 2019
Korea: The Never-Ending War
Shedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.
North Korea; Off-Piste 
North Korea; Off-Piste 13 May 2017
North Korea; Off-Piste
Having been granted special permission to film inside one of the most secretive countries in the world, Britain's fastest snowboarder sets off to experience first hand this country we know so little about.