Seo Young-hwa (서영화)

"Crossing", directed by Kim Tae-gyoon, does not shoot for a box-office jackpot as other mainstream movies do.

The production team, in fact, knows very well that the movie's serious theme - a realistic depiction of North Koreans - is unlikely to translate into big revenues.

But the movie aims high when it comes to the plight of North Koreans. Ranging from perilous border crossings to horrifying gulags to arduous resettlement in the South, the movie's realistic details are sharpened to perfection.

For North Korean defectors here, the movie means something more than a cinematic storytelling. At a special preview event in Seoul last Thursday, about 180 North Korean defectors watched the film, and many of them were crying during the screening. They seemed struck by the powerful images - scenes that inevitably bring back the dark memories of their life in the North.

"I had some doubts about this event because my movie might reopen the painful wounds inflicted on those who have defected to the South", Kim told the audience following the screening. "But I made the film in my humble belief that if there were somebody else who could cry with you, your tears would dry faster"....More

On Monday afternoon, a film depicting the misery and challenges faced by North Korean refugees was screened for an audience at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. "Crossing" was shown as part of North Korea Freedom Week, a series of events organized by the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC), a union of American groups concerned with human rights in North Korea.

About 100 people attended the screening, including congressional staffers such as House International Relations Committee specialists Dennis Halpin and Doug Anderson; Peter Beck, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea; Kim Sung-min, a former North Korean refugee and head of Free North Korea Radio; Shimada Yoichi, a representative of an association for Japanese victims of North Korean abductions and a professor of international relations at ...More