剧照
Seoul Train honored with the Shen Zhou Courage Award. JianMei Yo (left) of Shen Zhou presents award to Seoul Train representative and Liberty in North Korea (LINK) member Adrian Hong (right), who is also one of the documentary’s translation team members.
[Washington D.C.] At 2 p.m. on July 15th, 2007, the first Shen Zhou International Film Festival took place in the U.S. capital at the Landmark’s E Street Cinema and Incite Productions’ Seoul Train, a documentary by a directing team headed by Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lubarsky and Lisa Sleeth, with editing led by Lubarsky and Brandon Park, played to an enthusiastic reception. Seoul Train records the true story of North Korean refugees seeking escape from suffering under the rule of the North Korean Communist Party through following an Underground Railroad to northeastern China. They pursue what they imagine to be a beautiful life. In a harrowing and poignant illustration, Seoul Train reveals the actual fate of these North Korean refugees who “escape” into communist China. At the risk of their own lives, secretive activists strive to keep the North Korean refugees from being returned by the Chinese communist party to the North Korean Communist regime—and the all-too-real threat of torture and death. For its careful documentation and its message calling for human rights and integrity, Seoul Train received the inaugural Courage Award at the first Shen Zhou International Film Festival.
“…the Chinese government does not care to help those North Korean refugees at all…”
A significant portion of Seoul Train’s audience members were Korean Americans previously unfamiliar with the full story of the North Korean refugees. Many audience members were from families originating in South Korea, a thriving nation which has not had the pall of communism cast over it. One mother and daughter told our reporter that they had heard things about the North Korean refugees before, but that this was the first time they actually saw this kind of information in such clear detail. After watching the suffering of the North Korean refugees, they felt both scared and sad. They thought that the Chinese government returning the refugees to North Korea was wrong, stating, “Obviously, the Chinese government does not care to help those North Korean refugees at all, or they won’t send them back.”
A young woman from the Korean American community said, “From the perspective of humanity, the Chinese government was perfectly able to provide assistance.” A male peer also sighed over the needlessly tragic fate of North Korean refugees. Many in the audience from the vibrant Korean American community in and around the U.S. capital expressed their willingness to look for related organizations to help North Korean refugees still calling for help.
“A bright future will come only if the communist system is truly demolished.”
After watching Seoul Train, a Westerner and American citizen said, “North Korean refugees escaping from North Korea to China is a completely wrong way to do it. Since they are both communist countries, how can there be a fundamental difference? The Chinese Communist Party’s rule can never be any better than that of the North Korean Communist Party; a bright future will come only if the communist system is truly demolished.“ He was moved to find an event such as the Shen Zhou International Film Festival, which lets more people understand these inhumane phenomena and join to help these refugees.
Another American audience member said, “In the U.S. when there was a slave system, many of the American underground were righteous persons who operated the ‘underground railroad’ and released and rescued numerous black people from slavery. In World War II, it was also those good-hearted people among civilians who rescued thousands of Jews through a similar method.” Therefore he feels that the North Korean people should never put their hope on any government, especially the Chinese communist regime. Rather, he says they should let more regular citizens realize the North Korean people’s true situation and start a campaign to rescue them so that their suffering can end as soon as possible.