Repatriation (2004)

Original title

송환

Directed by

Kim Dong-won

Genre

documentary film

Country

South Korea

Runtime

2h 29m

Rated

12

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 9 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows a group of long-term prisoners who were finally released from South Korean jails in the 1990s and sent back to North Korea. It shows their lives during and after this process.

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What happens

Repatriation (Korean: 송환; Hanja: 送還; RR: Songhwan) is a 2004 South Korean documentary film that documents the lives of unconverted long-term prisoners imprisoned in the South for more than 30 years. They were finally set free in the 1990s when inter-Korean relations improved, and repatriated to the North. It was presented with the Freedom of Expression Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, the first time a Korean film has ever been presented with an award at the prestigious U.S. festival. It also won Best Documentary Award at the 19th Fribourg International Film Festival in 2005. A followup, The 2nd Repatriation (2차 송환) was released in 2022. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Dance of Time (2009)
• A Far Cry (1959)
• Nogada (2005)
• The 2nd Repatriation (2022)
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