How’s this for a timely story? In 1978, before becoming a dictator, Kim Jong-Il was an obsessive film buff who orchestrated the kidnapping of South Korean director Shin Sang-Ok and his movie star ex-wife Choi Eun-Hee, considered a power couple in Seoul. They were forced to remarry and make several propaganda films, including a Communist knockoff of Godzilla, meant to boost the image and morale of North Korea. The two eventually escaped to the U.S. embassy in Vienna and even relocated to L.A. for a time. Paul Fischer, a Saudi Arabia–born independent film producer based in London, recounts these events in his new book, A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator’s Rise to Power, which, for anyone who was caught up in the controversy of The Interview, is likely to be a page-turner.

Wed., Feb. 18, 7-8 p.m., 2015
(Expired: 02/18/15)

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