Beyond Utopia

Beyond Utopia chronicles two stories of escape from the regime of North Korea. A family of five, including small children and an elderly grandmother, seeks safe passage after crossing the border into China, and a mother in South Korea looks to reunite with the child she was forced to leave behind in the North. They solicit the aid of a South Korean pastor and activist who has spent over two decades guiding North Koreans to safety. Defectors must traverse heavily guarded borders, multiple countries, and mountainous terrain, with the threat of severe punishment and possible execution looming over their passage.

Combining visceral vérité footage with interviews and archival footage, Beyond Utopia is a portrait of the lengths people will go to gain freedom, revealing a world many have never seen.