Director’s Talk with Hark-Joon Lee

2014 04 16 directors-talk icon

Director Hark-Joon Lee, long-time reporter turned filmmaker, discusses his amazing, and in some cases life-threatening, experiences making documentaries on two wildly different subjects: North Korean defectors trying to escape to freedom and K-Pop, Korea’s musical entertainment industry. Lee deeply embeds himself in his film projects and goes to extraordinary lengths in pursuit of stories he thinks are worth telling.

From 2007 to 2011, Director Lee lived among North Korean defectors in China filming episodes which tell the moving and dramatic stories of a few of the many North Korean defectors who have crossed into China and made the harrowing journey along the 20,000 kilometer escape route stretching through China to Laos and Thailand or north into Russia, traveling through Khabarovsk, Tynda and on to Moscow. Posing as a North Korean defector, Lee risked his life filming undercover to capture the haunting stories first-hand. He witnessed human trafficking, the smuggling of illicit drugs by North Korean soldiers, and a rare successful escape from North Korea by sea. Crossing Heaven’s Border, which captures several of these harrowing, heartbreaking stories, aired in 2009 on Wide Angle, a PBS series, and received an Amnesty International’s best in human rights journalism award and a 2010 Emmy award nomination. Another documentary, Across Land, Across Sea, received an Emmy nomination in 2012 and has been shown in Korea and Europe.

For his documentary, 9 Muses of Star Empire, Lee got extraordinary access to the inner workings of the Star Empire agency by agreeing to become the 9 Muses’ manager during the year-long filming of the band as they prepared to make their debut. What emerges is a fascinating look at Korea’s musical entertainment industry, as well as a candid portrait of a physically grueling and psychologically challenging life, where the young singers must decide whether the price of fame is worth it.

In order to experience Hark-Joon Lee’s work, The Korea Society will be showing Across Land, Across Sea for the first time in the U.S. on April 16 at 6 PM, preceding our talk with Director Lee. 9 Muses of Star Empire will be shown at The Korea Society on April 17 at 7 PM. You can also watch his award-winning Crossing Heaven’s Border on PBS’s Web site.

Across Land, Across Sea 9 Muses of Star Empire Crossing Heaven’s Border