Kidnapped and Forced to Make Action Films

In 1978, two South Korean filmmakers--Director Shin Sang-ok and his star actress and ex-wife, Choi Eun-hee--were abducted and smuggled into North Korea in order to revolutionize the country's dying film industry.

[SacredDaturaa]

Having Pulgasari continue to devour iron after the enemy is defeated seems almost like a direct indictment of the Kim regime, gotta wonder how that subversive note slipped through.

[adamangeles]

I think accented cinema has said it before but the fact that Pulgasari is an allegory of the "liberation of the north korean people through the regime" is amazing considering that the monster is never satiated after defeating the capitalist it keeps eating and eating, destroying the same people it swore to protect.

[FaliggetFTW]

Saw this in my feed when you originally posted it, but I didn't sit down to watch it til today. Amazing stuff you put together here. Really great storytelling. Keep up the good work!!

[Stepatee]

(So glad to see a new upload from you! :)

[zarleewoodland]

Just wanted you to know -- I've decided you're my favourite documentary channel for interesting and strange stories. I hope you know how amazing these videos are. I find myself completely drawn into them, even when I think I'm not that compelled by the subject. I can't wait for the next one!

[slashkeyAI]

You also should be proud of your work as filmmakers.

[JasonParmenter]

North Korea has great artists from the murals you see and other things like performances, we will probably never know these artist's names and some stuff we might not even see. It is kind of depressing.

[BorkDoggo]

So peasants created a protector to defend themselves against exploitation, but it became a gigantic monster that fed off their production tools and ate people. Somebody did not see the symbolism...

[darthsmack]

Those poor people. They seemed like truly brilliant film makers and had very kind souls, but their lives were stolen from them.

[pattywolford]

A movie about their experience still needs to be made. Shame it wasn't made while they were living.

[Sam_on_YouTube]

This would work better as a TV series than a movie. It needs the running time to breath. Duration is an important part of the story.

[colemarie]

Incredible job with this documentary. The movie clips and pics used, the narration, historical background and editing are all really good.

It must have been difficult to explain a place like North Korea (where life sounds like some bizarre sci fi story) in a way the rest of the world could understand, especially with the amount of cultural and historical context included....and fitting all of it in a limited time frame.
Impressive stuff.

[cvspvr]

she's back! back again! tell a friend

[GojiraRising]

Years ago when I was a kid my cousin showed me a bootleg of Pulgasari because I love Godzilla/Kaiju and I didn't know the history of its behind the scenes and when we finished it i was like "Hey that was a pretty cool movie" then he casually tells me everything about how it came to be and I was like "oh".

[AfutureV]

It is always saddening to hear stories of people who do nothing wrong and yet are perceived as traitors by two opposing sides. It is especially infuriating because it does not make sense and lacks all empathy.

[mikehawk]

The way Kim was laughing so casually while explaining his plot to kidnap Shin & Choi, right to their faces, is one of the most chilling recordings I've ever heard.

[Cosplaybuddygiraffes]

There’s something so incredibly bittersweet about the huge crowds of North Korean citizens gathered at Shin and Choi’s movie sets.
Those people saw idols and heroes, they loved the duo and their art. In a stifling environment of non-stop worship, something as earnest and cheesy as drama films can really be home away from home. It’s the truest example of art being capable of having meaningful impact.

But for Shin and Choi, this was forced upon them. Yes, there’s a strange irony in their North Korean films giving them more success and pleasure, but it would also be the venture that doomed them from ever hitting it big again. The works that dazzled others and gave them a newfound love for the art of filmmaking would be what their idols got casted away for.

[jonesy]

“My Wife and I were absolutely NOT kidnapped” is a phrase that only people who have been kidnapped would say.

[emilybarclay]

Imagine being a child and having your parents both go missing one after another in identical fashion and then you hear they’ve betrayed their country and joined the enemy side, imagine what that does to a kid’s psyche

[ashannaredwolf]

Amid the sobriety of this, it was a breath of fresh air to see that Shin achieved some success with the 3 Ninjas franchise. I adored those movies as a kid, and I remember the first one at least being extremely popular for some time. Thank you for sharing Shin and Choi's heart-breaking story.