Starting in Tokyo on June 18, It’ll Be Released in Yokohama, Osaka, and Kyoto in a Row

Actor-director Choo Sangmee’s film, The Children Gone to Poland, was released in Japan on June 18. The film will be released in Yokohama, Osaka, and Kyoto, starting with Tokyo.

The Children Gone to Poland is a documentary film based on the true story of 1,500 Korean War orphans sent to Poland in 1951 and Polish teachers. Director Choo Sangmee and Lee Song, a North Korean defector girl, the two women from the South and the North, travel together to follow the teachers’ record of raising the children from abroad like their own children. Lee Song, who accompanied Director Choo in the film, is a teenager who defected from North Korea by risking her life. The Children Gone to Poland sheds a light on the dark history that is not well known in Korean society, crossing time and space from the past to the present, and from the Korean Peninsula to Poland. 

Kobayashi Sanshiro, the CEO of the distributing agency, said, “I have deep respect for the fact that Korean filmmakers are making films that Japanese should make. I think we must remember what happened in the past and convey what we learned through the film.” The Children Gone to Poland was invited to the 23rd Busan International Film Festival, the 16th Seoul International Agape Film Festival, the 6th Chuncheon SF Film Festival, and won Kim Dae Jung Nobel Peace Film Award at the Bitgaram International Peace Film Festival. 

Actor Choo Sangmee, who played unique characters in movies such as Everybody Has Secrets, The Contact, and On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate, has recently released various films as a director. Apart from The Children Gone to Poland, Director Choo directed Dressing Room, which entered the Korean Shorts Competition at the 12th Jeonju International Film Festival, and A Woman Under the Influence, which was invited to the Wide Angle section at the 18th Busan International Film Festival. We hope Director Choo Sangmee’s documentary can draw deep empathy from Japanese audiences.