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”. The Korea-US production previously premiered in competition at Visions du Réel, where it won the special jury award.
The documentary centres on Kim’s family, who were and remain in what the director calls a “circle of sadness” caused by the war. Her grandfather disappeared into the north and never returned; her father served in the war and obsessively researched it until his death; and her mother, still scarred by her time as a war refugee, fills her home to the brim with discarded objects. The film also features a North Korean defector who shares his story with Kim.
“Of course, I named the film after that North Korean defector, but my grandfather also defected — not a real defection, but after he went north, the border was closed, so he couldn’t go back. Korean history created these tragic events in ordinary people’s lives,” Kim tells Screen.
Meanwhile, the third “defector” of the title is Kim herself, who moved to the US to live with her husband, fellow documentarist Ross McElwee.
“I had to move, but I felt terribly guilty,” she reflects. “When I went to a meeting in New York for (North Korean) defectors, one of the women talked about feeling guilty for leaving their parents or families behind. I’m not a North Korean defector, but I feel exactly the same way. So it’s kind of three layers of defection.”
In telling the story of her family and its connection to the war, Kim was able to draw on decades of footage of her family dating back to her 2005 film What Are We Waiting For?, which dealt with married couples separated by the war.
“There were several stories in that film, including my parents’, but I always thought their story (in that film) didn’t work well, because I was too immature. Whenever I saw them, I got too emotional, so I couldn’t go deep into their story. Now that I’ve moved away, I can see them from a different perspective,” says Kim.
The director explains there were two major factors in getting her parents to open up on camera for Defectors in comparison to their “self-conscious” appearance in her 2005 film. One was seeing the earlier film play at the Busan International Film Festival, which they “surprisingly really enjoyed and cherished”. The other was in simply getting older. “They kind of decided, ‘Well, what the hell,’” says Kim with a laugh. “That gave me a lot more access.”
The other key subject of the film is the former diplomat who goes by the name Mr. Kwon, who defected from North Korea while working in an embassy in Vietnam. Kim first meets Kwon while filming at a gathering of defectors in Washington D.C., where he agrees to tell Kim his story.
Kim notes many North Korean defectors make their living by appearing on television and telling their stories. Kwon, on the other hand, had not appeared much in the media because of his “hermit-like” personality.
“I’ve noticed, though, that everyone wants attention from someone. He was accumulating stories and emotions and depression, so he wanted an outlet, and somehow, by instinct, he realized he could trust me,” says Kim.
To get the full story, Kim followed Kwon to the UK, where he was attempting to make a life after feeling unwelcome in South Korea. There, she found Kwon sick and depressed, leading to some of the film’s most touching and vulnerable scenes. She also discovered that Kwon, who had left his wife and son behind in North Korea, had since married a South Korean woman who followed him to the UK.
“He was all alone and needed someone, and she was a single mother who liked the fact that he was an educated person,” explains Kim. “It ended up being a good match.”
Kim says screening Defectors in her home country feels very different than showing it at festivals in other countries.
“It’s about my family and it’s very personal. It’s not exactly a secret, but you don’t want to reveal this ugly part of your family life. It’s kind of embarrassing. But for non-Koreans, I’m never going to see them again!” says Kim with a laugh. In comparison, many family members, former colleagues and students came to the screenings at DMZ Docs.
“One of my sisters, after the first screening, was kind of upset with me, saying it revealed too much,” shares Kim. “But after the second screening, her opinion changed, and she told me she loved the film.”
Kim is now working on a film that will tell the story of her grandfather who disappeared to the north during the war.
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