Actress Choo makes directorial debut
Choo Sang-mee directs “The Children Gone to Poland,” a documentary about North Korean orphans sent to Poland after the Korean War. Courtesy of Connect Pictures
By Park Hyong-ki
Choo Sang-mee, an actress known mostly for her TV soap opera and independent movie roles, will be releasing a feature-length documentary film in her directorial debut on Oct. 31.
The film follows the true story of 1,500 North Korean children orphaned by the Korean War who were sent to the North's communist ally Poland after the cessation of the conflict.
Thus, it is titled, “The Children Gone to Poland.” She not only directed the documentary, but also narrated and appeared in the film, interviewing Polish teachers and foster parents who took care of those children.
Technically, this marks the third film she directed. She has made two short films, but this is the first time she directed a feature-length film that will be theatrically released via a local distributor.
While promoting her documentary at the Busan International Film Festival, Choo said she has been preparing to make this documentary over the last two years since she enrolled in Chung-Ang University's graduate film program. Chung-Ang is considered the top film school here with many alumni making their debut in film and TV and behind the camera.
She said she made the documentary, believing it was worth telling the story of the North Korean children who were sent to Poland to be cared for in a better environment. The North sent the highest number of orphans to Poland than to other communist countries. There were about 100,000 children who lost their parents in the Korean War.
But they were later brought back to the North to have them participate in its economic development program called Chollima Movement in 1958.
The concept of Chollima is similar to South Korea's Saemaul Movement orchestrated by then President Park Chung-hee in an effort to modernize the economy in the 1970s.
Choo said she will be concentrating on directing rather than acting, and seeks to develop more projects that would “help add social value.”
Connect Pictures will be distributing Choo's documentary. Connect Pictures previously distributed “Spirits Homecoming,” a movie about Japanese wartime sex slaves, and “Suh Suh-pyoung,” a documentary about a German-born American nurse and missionary whose real name was Elisabeth Johanna who came to Korea in 1912.