FILMAKERS LIBRARY

ASIA

A film by Kim Jung-Eun

Since 1995 two million North Koreans have starved to death from famine. Hundreds of thousands of others have illegally crossed the border to China in search of food. This documentary, filmed in the remote northeast mountains of China, captures the dire circumstances of these refugees, who must subsist furtively in primitive caves, under floorboards and in basements. If caught they will be sent back and put to death.

Families have been torn apart. Many North Korean refugees have had to hand their children over to Chinese orphanages where the children will at least get enough to eat and an education. Or they have been forced to give their children up for adoption.

The stories are heart-rending. One family had to leave their five year old in an orphanage as he wailed "don't leave me." Orphaned and abandoned children live on the streets where they beg for food. Shadows and Whispers brings us up close to the human beings who become merely statistics on the evening news. With the recent rapprochment between North and South Korea, conditions will hopefully improve.

52 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $75.

Association for Asian Studies, 2002

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