Description
Historical records of the diaspora of North Korean war orphans to Eastern Europe in the 1950s
It’s a mostly forgotten slice of Cold War history, but a new documentary sheds light on the lives of the orphans whose departure still weighs on the Europeans who knew them – New York Times
I hope your film will provide audiences all over the world with an opportunity to reflect upon both the past and the future of the Korean peninsula – Harry Harris, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea
Your film was very powerful, beautiful, and sincere – Renee Fisher, Film Director
A movie you cannot watch without shedding tears as a person living in the same era in different location. – Shimokawa Masahiru, former Mainichi journalist
Kim Il Sung’s Children reveals the secrets of North Korean orphans in Eastern Europe in the 1950s.
An illumination on the forgotten lives of 10,000 North Korean orphans in Eastern Europe in the 1950s, referred to as Kim Il Sung’s children.
This documentary traces North Korea’s war orphans of the 1950s in five Eastern European countries: The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. It features miraculous events and meetings with innocent people throughout the journey.
2020 Rome International Movie Awards (Italy) The Best Documentary Winner
2020 International New York Film Festival Official Selection
2020 Cyrus International Film Festival of Toronto (Canada) Semi Finalist
2020 Nice International Film Festival (France) Official Selection
2020 ‘Global Migration Film Festival’ by UN International Organization of Migration Official Selection
Prologue
Chapter 1 | Children from North Korea
Traces of North Korean children accidentally discovered
Unlocking secret documents
Photo album of hidden history
Reasons why we need a miracle
North Korean children’s dormitory, Valeč Castle
The first impressions
North Korean children’s report cards
War trauma
Angel on the road: Marie Kopecká
When records disappear, history is forgotten
I want to go back to my European home
Chapter 2 | Language doesn’t matter when you meet good people
South and North Korea dealt with war orphans in different ways
Lebensborn: The Nazi ethnic cleansing plan
The 1950s: The Cold War and regime competition
Trans-Siberian special train
Hidden history
Small army
Defeat was death
Fierce offspring
Walk to Europe
Language doesn’t matter when you meet good people
Friendship to love
Chapter 3 | Candles for the living
Georgeta Mircioiu: A woman waiting for her North Korean husband
Korean dictionary with 160,000 words
Dramatic life journey
Cho Chung Ho: A North Korean man
Secret love
Living in Pyongyang as a foreigner
Time of chaos
Exclusion campaign
Deportation and forced separation
Last family photo
Death of Cho Chung Ho
Unresolved questions
European women waiting for their husbands
Candles for the living
To Gigi
Flower basket—it’s pretty!
Father, be strong!
Chapter 4 | 1962: The year North Korea closed its doors
Kim Il Sung’s 1956 visit to Eastern Europe and his clash with factionalists
Distorted society
The Hungarian Revolution
The winds of change in Eastern Europe
Escaping the dormitory
Closed group society
Group defection of North Korean college students in Bulgaria
1962: The year North Korea closed its doors
Chapter 5 | From Stalin’s children to Kim Il Sung’s children
Kiss my younger brother Andrzej...
The moment of parting comes
Repatriation train
Kim Il Sung feared the children’s return
Meeting a North Korean war orphan in Pyongyang
A last message to a friend in North Korea
Letters from North Korea
There is no hometown in the world to which one cannot return
