Seoul Train (2004)

Directed by

Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lubarsky

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

54 min

Rating

5.8 of 10 from 10 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows North Korean refugees making dangerous escapes across China to seek freedom. Activists operate a secret network of safe houses and routes to help them evade authorities who would send them back to face severe punishment.

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What happens

Seoul Train is a 2004 documentary film that deals with the dangerous journeys of North Korean refugees as they escape through China to find refuge. These journeys are both dangerous and daring since, if caught, they face forced repatriation, torture, and possible execution. The North Koreans are aided by a loose band of activists who have formed an "underground railroad" of safe houses and escape routes to evade the authorities and North Korean agents. Seoul Train was broadcast on television in more than 22 countries around the world, including on the PBS series Independent Lens. In January 2007, Seoul Train was awarded the Alfred I. duPont – Columbia University Silver Baton for excellence in broadcast journalism (broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). In April 2007, Seoul Train was named runner-up in the National Journalism Awards. The film was produced, directed, and filmed by Jim Butterworth, a technology entrepreneur in Colorado in the United States, and Lisa Sleeth of Incite Productions. Seoul Train was co-directed and edited by Aaron Lubarsky, a documentary filmmaker in New York City. Butterworth and Sleeth lived in a safe house on the China-North Korea border while shooting the film, and used that as a base to cross into North Korea for part of the filming. On March 17, 2009, North Korean soldiers apprehended reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling while filming a documentary for Current TV. Lee and Ling were apprehended as they attempted to retrace the footsteps of Butterworth and Sleeth. Lee wrote in her book The World Is Bigger Now: An American Journalist's Release from Captivity in North Korea ... A Remarkable Story of Faith, Family, and Forgiveness how Seoul Train had motivated her and how she jumped at the chance to do a similar story. North Korean authorities interrogated Lee and Ling about watching Seoul Train. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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