Syndicado Inc.
presents the exposing documentary
Ann Shin’s The Defector: Escape from North Korea.
Coming to the U.S.A. digitally
March 14, 2014
Official Selection
2012 IDFA Official Selection
2013 Aljazeera Film Festival
2013 Hot Docs Official Selection
2013 Independent Film Festival Boston Official Selection
2013 Sheffield Doc Festival Official Selection
2013 SXSW Official Selection
Syndicado Inc. releases The Defector: Escape from North Korea, digitally in the United States on iTunes, Vubiquity, Amazon, xBox, and vudu. Syndicado will also release The Defector: Escape from North Korea on iTunes in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Written, produced and directed by Toronto-based Ann Shin, the documentary unmasks the wretched conditions and the never-ending dictatorship in which the depicted North Korean refugees are sought to leave. Desperate to leave, these refugees are aided by Dragon, who served as a member of a special military corps in North Korea. His training helped him escape in 2001 to China where he met fellow defectors in hiding. However, he was caught and thrown into a prison for a year.
Dragon smuggles North Korean defectors across borders for a living, and his latest undercover trip with Sook-Ja and Yong-hee takes an unexpected turn when they are left stranded in China. This is just the start of an extraordinary 5,000 km journey.
An insightful and extremely timely documentary, The Defector: Escape from North Korea is the tale of human courage, and the unpredictable escape from an impenetrable state. With the UN recently announcing the scale of human rights abuses in the state, The Defector can help raise awareness of the plight of the North Korean people.
“The Defector…” is an incredible story of the search for a lifelong dream from a nightmare state,” says Greg Rubidge, President of Syndicado. “We could not be more thrilled to share this truly engrossing, relevant documentary with fellow viewers.”
ABOUT SYNDICADO
Syndicado is a digital distribution company focused on feature length documentaries and factual TV programming for launch on digital platforms such as Internet, cable VOD, and mobile. The company partners with traditional distributors, producers and sale agents to manage all aspects of digital distribution, strategy and marketing, on the leading digital service providers in North America and Europe. The company’s expertise and business model allow distributors and other rights holders a cost effective strategy to fully exploit emerging digital opportunities, while remaining focused on their core business. Recent releases include Bible Storyland, Beautifully Broken, and The Naked Archaeologist.
