 |
|
:: how the film was made
:: daniel gordon director’s statement
:: about VeryMuchSo productions
After a negotiation period of over two years, filming began in June 2004 with a two hour interview with Dresnok and Charles Robert Jenkins. The North Korean authorities considered this initial meeting too sensitive to be filmed, as the Jenkins family issue was no nearer a resolution and a final agreement on filming had not actually been signed. This was a decision the authorities would later admit to regretting, as Jenkins had a very different story to tell once he left North Korea. A small amount of filming took place afterwards which features in the film.
In September 2004, just days after Jenkins had publicly alleged that Dresnok would tie him up and beat him on behalf of the North Korean authorities, the filmmakers were in North Korea interviewing Dresnok, who had no idea of the detail of these allegations. His immediate and emotional reaction is captured in the film.
In November, having attended Jenkins’ court martial in Japan—Japanese authorities banned all filming—the crew flew immediately to North Korea to film, shooting on High Definition. This trip included an extensive two and a half hour interview with Dresnok in his home and a further hour of interviews with Dresnok and his fellow film stars.
Furthermore there was a 90-minute interview with Parrish’s wife, where she talks of her life with her husband and addresses the allegations of how she came to be in North Korea. Also filmed was two sets of interviews with the sons of Parrish and Dresnok and with their friends, as well as a tearful interview with the University classmates of Jenkins’ daughters, who had left for Japan four months’ earlier. And finally there was an hour-long interview with hospital staff, those doctors and surgeons who have treated all the Americans over the years. Among the many issues they addressed was the allegation that they botched Jenkins’ operation in April 2004.
More time was spent with Dresnok included fishing (his favourite pastime and one the four Americans enjoyed together) and bowling. Dresnok notes the irony of such an American pastime being popular in North Korea. He is filmed having his monthly heart check up. There is a visit to the restaurant where he met both his wives in Korea and a revolutionary opera. In addition, Dresnok gives a guest lecture in English at the Grand People’s Study House. Filming was suspended when Dresnok was rushed into hospital after complaining of chest pains.
The crew resumed their shoot in the United States in April 2005, tracking down the early lives of the four defectors, and noted the effect the defections had had on the friends and family they left behind, and a month later, in May 2005, arrived in North Korea for their final shoot.
daniel gordon director’s statement
I first entered North Korea, back in 2001, to make my first film, THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES (2002), the story of the legendary North Korean World Cup team who in 1966, performed the greatest shock in World Cup history by knocking the mighty Italians out of the competition.
It was then that I began to hear stories that at first glance were mind blowing but on reflection seemed too fantastic to be true: Americans were living in North Korea. And not just any Americans but US soldiers who had defected during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and had lived in Pyongyang for 40 years.
Once I had confirmation, the quest began do what everyone thought impossible: get permission to film these men inside the world’s most isolated country. This was never going to be a quick or simple mission. Although these men had defected between 1962 and 1965, it was not until 1996 that the US Department of Defense officially acknowledged that the four were living in North Korea. This showed how little even the US authorities knew, as one of the men had actually died thirteen years earlier.
Gradually, I began to get answers from our film partners in North Korea. Yes, there were Americans living in Pyongyang. Yes, they were considered heroes in North Korea. No, it would not be possible to film them.
So, along with my Associate Producer and North Korea specialist Nicholas Bonner, we made our second film in North Korea, A STATE OF MIND (2004). We spent nine months following two North Korean schoolgirls during their year-long preparation for the Mass Games - the world’s biggest choreographed extravaganza with over 100,000 performers.
During the latter stages of filming STATE, we were informed that, yes, against all the odds, we would have permission to start CROSSING THE LINE and film the American defectors. This would be our third, most compelling film to date, and certainly the most ambitious.
We began filming in June 2004, with the two remaining live defectors. Within a month, one of these, Charles Robert Jenkins, would leave North Korea and surrender to the US Army in Japan to face court martial. This left just James Joseph Dresnok, or Joe a he prefers to be called, as the last American defector living in North Korea.
But what had made him cross? What had his life been like for 40 years in North Korea? Had he married? Had children? CROSSING THE LINE is his story.
CROSSING THE LINE is the third feature length documentary by VeryMuchSo Productions, the team that produced the RTS award-winning THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES (four awards in total plus two Grierson nominations, one British Independent Film Awards nomination) and the acclaimed A STATE OF MIND (broadcast UK June 7th 2004 and chosen as ‘Pick of the Day’ in every broadsheet) the story of two North Korean gymnasts as they prepare a Mass Games celebration. A STATE OF MIND was selected for competition at Tribeca Film Festival and officially selected to Pusan International Film Festival, Sheffield International Documentary Festival and to International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
VeryMuchSo has worked with British run KORYO TOURS and has been given unique access to North Korea, having spent the last six years negotiating and filming in the country. The team is also highly respected in North Korea itself, THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES has been broadcast ten times there (one channel, 100% ratings!) and a follow up documentary on the football players’ return to England in 2002 was broadcast twice a week for two months in 2003.
VeryMuchSo has recently produced a series of sport and lifestyle based interstitials for Discovery Italy and DMAX in Germany, and also used images from A STATE OF MIND to produce Faithless’ much talked about pop promo ‘I Want More.’
