Backdrop fallback

Beyond Utopia

Beyond Utopia

Share

Beyond Utopia

"See a place few have ever seen."

2023

1h 56m

7.7(70 votes)

Documentary

History

Overview

A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.

Links & Resources

Website IMDbView

Social & External

Production Companies

XRM Media

RandomGood Foundation

Human Rights Foundation

19340 Productions

The deNovo Initiative

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Barbara Demick

Self

Kim Sung-eun

Self

Lee Hyeon-seo

Self

Lee So-yeon

Self

Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-un

Self (archive footage)

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il

Self (archive footage)

Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung

Self (archive footage)

Kim Jong-nam

Self (archive footage)

Jang Song-thaek

Jang Song-thaek

Self (archive footage)

Ri Sol-ju

Ri Sol-ju

Self (archive footage)

Creative team

Directed by: Madeleine Gavin
Written by: Madeleine Gavin
Produced by: Jana Edelbaum
Rachel Cohen

Similar Movies

The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Diesel, one of history’s greatest inventors, vanished into thin air on the eve of World War I. His revolutionary invention, the Diesel engine, was highly sought after by global industries and political figures around the world. It had the power to threaten empires and change the fate of nations, turning him and his technology into both a prized asset and a potential threat.

Alive

Alive

The amazing true story of a Uruguayan rugby team's plane that crashed in the middle of the Andes mountains, and their immense will to survive and pull through alive, forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive on meager rations and through the freezing cold.

Coach Carter

Coach Carter

Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.

The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene Sisters

Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.

Burn Boston Burn

Based on what has been called the largest arson investigation in U.S. history; after a tax-cutting statute in the early 1980s results in the layoffs of hundreds of Boston police and firefighters. Nine men, including three cops and a firefighter, then conspired to set 200 fires across the city, setting off a years-long manhunt by Wayne Miller.

Outlaw King

Outlaw King

Forced into exile by the English after being crowned King of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the Bruce fights to reclaim the throne.

The Words That Built America

The Words That Built America

In recognition of the 4th of July, several celebrities and politicians of differing ideologies join to read the historic documents which laid the foundation for the United States of America.

Ryeohaeng

Ryeohaeng

A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.

Birds Are Singing in Kigali

Birds Are Singing in Kigali

We meet ornithologist Anna in 1994 just as genocide is raging in Rwanda, perpetrated by the majority Hutus against the Tutsis. Anna manages to save the daughter of a colleague whose family has been murdered, and she takes her to Poland. But the woman returns to Rwanda to visit the graves of her loved ones. The director originally worked on the movie with her husband Krzysztof Krauze (My Nikifor – Crystal Globe, KVIFF 2005), but after his death in 2014 she eventually finished this challenging picture alone.

Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals

Follows the personal and professional life of Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point.

The Red Sea Diving Resort

The Red Sea Diving Resort

Sudan, East Africa, 1980. A team of Israeli Mossad agents plans to rescue and transfer thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. To do so, and to avoid raising suspicions from the inquisitive and ruthless authorities, they establish as a cover a fake diving resort by the Red Sea.

Tenho Fé

Tenho Fé

This documentary accompanies the journey of artists who exalt and celebrate ancestry and the orishas in their work. It also offers a manifesto against one of the biggest problems facing Brazil: religious racism. The feature brings together stories from music, theater, fashion, dance and the visual arts to promote reflection on the power and importance of black representation, art and diversity

Slaves and Kings

Slaves and Kings

The compelling story of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, a Spanish Roman Catholic Archbishop, writer and publisher, missionary, and confessor to Queen Isabella II of Spain. Declared a saint in 1950, Claret is the founder of the religious congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known as the Claretians.

Pelley

A Blustery winter's night - a warm trapper's cabin up ahead. The dark, cold woods might prove safer lodging. A true story from Cow Head Newfoundland 1809.

The Lost Leonardo

The Lost Leonardo

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

The inspirational journey of Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007.

The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Awlad

Awlad

Α quarter of the global population of school age lives in war zones or disaster areas. Fewer than one in four underage refugees attends secondary school. Only one in twenty enrolls for university. Less than two per cent of global humanitarian aid is spent on education. This is the story of four refugee children living in different countries, and a documentation of their daily struggle to obtain a formal education.

WHAT GOES AROUND Rudolf Slánský

The full-length television documentary, using currently found audio-visual records, tells the story of the fabricated political process from November 1952, the story of its victims and its masterminds. At its end, 11 executed high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, committed to the communist party, who mechanically "recited" memorized confessions and accusations of "accomplices", former friends and colleagues in front of the court in response to prearranged questions from the prosecutors and judges.

Lessons in Dissent

Lessons in Dissent

A vivid portrait of a generation of Hong Kongers committed to creating a new more democratic Hong Kong. Schoolboy Joshua Wong dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of National Education. Whilst former classmate Ma Jai fights against political oppression on the streets and in the courts. Catapulting the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into the heart of the action. The viewer is confronted with Hong Kong's oppressive heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent. Filmed over 18 months this is a kaleidoscopic, visceral experience of their epic struggle.

Recommended Movies

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

A Toxic Love Story

A Toxic Love Story

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

Maternal Instinct

Maternal Instinct

Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.

Cover-Up

Cover-Up

He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.

Fuck

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

To Kill a Tiger

To Kill a Tiger

Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

Citizenfour

Citizenfour

In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.

A Decade Under the Influence

A Decade Under the Influence

A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.

Come See Me in the Good Light

Come See Me in the Good Light

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.

Room 237

Room 237

A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.

The Menendez Brothers

The Menendez Brothers

Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.

Risk

Risk

Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.

Voyeur

Voyeur

Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.

LA 92

LA 92

Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.

Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case

Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case

When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.

Orwell: 2+2=5

Orwell: 2+2=5

George Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th century, whose novels 1984 and Animal Farm foretold a chilling, authoritarian future. Acclaimed director Raoul Peck interweaves clips, readings from Orwell's diary, cinematic references, and modern-day footage to craft not only a portrait of the writer, but a fresh take on how prophetic his work has become.

For Sama

For Sama

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.

ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

This investigation examines the mysterious shooting of soul icon Sam Cooke, whose death silenced one of the most vital voices in the civil rights movement.