Gulag Kingdom

Green Garnet Productions

Gritty realism?
Well, not exactly

Just when North Korea couldn't possibly provoke more condemnation, along comes Kimjongilia to pile it on.

Documentarian Nancy Heikin just wanted to see Japan with her husband, who was attending a human-rights conference, but ended up spending seven years recording the testimony of escapees from the brutal Pyongyang regime. To be seen at October's Pusan International Film Festival and released in South Korea afterward, Kimjongilia — the title is taken from the name of a begonia cultivated in honor of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il — is a harrowing night at...

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