From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Staff Pick
What a fantastic, mind-blowing book! The fact that this is nonfiction makes it even more incredible. I loved the prose, which reads like fiction. I kept turning page after page because I wanted to know what happened. I was also surprised to learn so much about the history of Asian cinema. This is the perfect blend of action, drama, and factual information. One of my favorite books of 2015! Recommended By Shannon B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
An Amazon Best of The Year Nonfiction Selection
The
Extraordinary True Story of Kim Jong-Il’s kidnapping of the golden
couple of South Korean Cinema, The Movies They Were Forced to Make, and
Their Daring Escape.
Before becoming the world’s most
notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea’s Ministry for
Propaganda and all its film studios. Underwhelmed by the pool of talent
available to him he took drastic steps, ordering the kidnap of Choi
Eun-Hee (Madame Choi) — South Korea’s most famous actress — and her
ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, the country’s most famous filmmaker. But as
Madame Choi and Shin Shang-Ok begin to make North Korea’s greatest
films, they hatch a plan of escape worthy of a blockbuster Hollywood
ending. A Kim Jong-Il Production is that rarest of books: a
wildly entertaining, cunningly told story that offers a rare glimpse
into a nation still wrapped in mystery.
Review
“Exhaustively researched, highly engrossing chronicle of the outrageous
abduction of a pair of well-known South Korean filmmakers by the
nefarious network of North Korea's Kim Jong-Il.” Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
“Fischer's entertaining narrative paints an arresting portrait of a
North Korean "theater state," forced to enact the demented script of a
sociopathic tyrant.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“An entertaining new book…details how [Shin and Choi] finally seized
their chance to seek asylum…A stupefying, novelistic read.” The Boston Globe
Review
“The 1978 abductions of the South Korean actress Choi-Eun-He and her
ex-husband, the director Shin Sang-Ok, in Hong Kong is the true crime at
the center of Paul Fischer's gripping and surprisingly timely new
book.” The New York Times
About the Author
PAUL FISCHER is a film producer who studied social sciences at the
Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and film at the University of
Southern California and the New York Film Academy. Paul’s first feature
film, the documentary Radioman, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Doc NYC festival and was released to critical and commercial acclaim. A Kim Jong-Il Production is his first book.