Crossing the line is a 1-hour video that charts the paths of two Tasmanian medical students, Amy and Paul, during an 8-week placement on Mornington Island in north-west Queensland. We believe that educating students of all disciplines relevant to Aboriginal people is part of our obligation to improve the way we respond to and interact with Aboriginal people in the future. Can testimony from these cops hold up in court? Films. East Courtyard, Towards the end of Crossing the Line, a North Korean doctor discloses to the BBC that Dresnok is in failing health, mainly due to heavy drinking and smoking. Consequently, filmmakers wishing to engage with it would have to be more sophisticated in their approach too. Moreover the movie launched, because it is a success. A British documentary about US Army defector James Dresnok currently living in North Korea after having defected during the 60s. Only one remains in DPRK. The film centred on Dresnok's history, highlighting his unhappiness in America, and particularly his desertion from the United States Army in 1962 to the DPRK. Dresnok keeps talking about three other soldiers who defected after him, and their lives in North Korea. This film looks back on the life of Dresnok in North Korea and his importance within that regime. 2021 Koryo Studio. My motivation for making the documentary CROSSING THE LINE was a desire to make the issues surrounding Indigenous health accessible to a broad mainstream audience. Like most Australians, they have never been exposed to life in a remote indigenous community. document.getElementById( "ak_js" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); If you would rather just drop us an email please send to Simon@koryogroup.com, If ordering please let us know the SET or PORTRAIT number and size you require, thank you. will be notified by email within five working days should your response be The video examines whether this advice is realistic and how adequately prepared they are for this culturally shocking experience. 'Crossing the Line' follows the journeys of two young medical students, Amy and Paul, who leave their safe middle class homes and university behind to be thrust into the harsh reality of eve Read all'Crossing the Line' follows the journeys of two young medical students, Amy and Paul, who leave their safe middle class homes and university behind to be thrust into the harsh reality of everyday life on Mornington Island. For nearly 40 years their life was hidden from the outside world.Not even the US government knew their fate. Since its broadcast on the ABC some 8 years ago it is apparent that the documentary has also been very useful as an educational resource. Over the course of its ninety-minute runtime, Crossing the Line delves into the psyches of prisoners of war, the act of defection, and the process of assimilating into a society that prides itself on its homogeneity. Australia remains stuck in a trench in relation to Aboriginal health. The film is about a former U.S. Army soldier, James J. Dresnok, who defected to North Korea on 15 August 1962. Its a story of defection, kidnap, love, and political intrigue, all set and captured in the most secret and inaccessible country on earth: North Korea. ***This series and episode is under license from TVF. Crossing the Line, which was narrated by actor Christian Slater, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the festival. - Sacha Molitorisz, TV Previews, The Sydney Morning Herald. Kaye impressed me with her understanding of the protocols of approaching the community for permission to film in a serious and sensitive way. Washington, DC 20036 Excludes Producer Offset and Producer Equity Program. We already have a niggling feeling that not everything Dresnok says is to be trustedwatch how he squirms and evades talking about the background of his first, supposedly Romanian wife inside North Koreabut the extent of how unreliable he is as a narrator is always up in the air. Your Email (required) Dresnok is shown with fellow defectors, including Charles Robert Jenkins, who returned to Japan to be with his wife, Hitomi Soga (a victim of kidnapping by the North Koreans), while filming was taking place. James Dresnok: The Foreign Studies Institute. Please refer to our, Statistics, epidemiology and research design, Statistics,epidemiology and research design, View this article on Wiley Online Library, Conditions Read more Directors Kaye Harrison, Rod Freedman Supplier Ronin Films BEST DOCUMENTARY - Social and Political Issues - 2005 ATOM Awards (Australian Teachers of Media). He uses Korean as his daily language. His story broke open in September 2002 when it was reported that one of the kidnapped Japanese nationals, Hitomi Soga, had married an American defector. Firstly. The spent cartridges of bright ideas litter the ground. Email me when people comment on this article, Online responses are no longer available. There is an ongoing tension between their personal experience with the community and the professional distance they are told they need to maintain in order to practice professionally. Like most Australians, they have never been exposed to life in a remote Indigenous community. Crossing the Line tells the story of the last American defector in North Korea, James Joseph Dresnok. If not this is just to pass the time. Since at least the 1930s, Indigenous . About The Documentary. Like most Australians, they have never been exposed to life in a remote Indigenous community. Subject CROSSING THE LINE follows the journeys of two young medical students, Amy and Paul, who leave their safe middle class homes and university behind to be thrust into the harsh reality of everyday life on Mornington Island. The director and cinematographer, Kaye Harrison, approached me with the idea of following two non-indigenous medical students on a work placement to the remote community of Mornington island, where they would meet Aboriginal people for the first time and experience some of the complexities of Indigenous health issues. When two young non-Indigenous medical students go to work in a remote Aboriginal community their professional precepts and personal ideas are deeply challenged. Crossing the Line, which was narrated by actor Christian Slater, was nominated for the Grand Jury . Amy attends a church service at a time when many funerals are being held for young men. Teaching English at Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, he was the subject of the film Crossing the Line ", Last edited on 15 December 2022, at 00:20. This was justified not just because these peeks could be accommodated in the plot, but also because outside audiences had genuinely never seen life depicted that way in, arguably, the world's most isolated country. While The Game of Their Lives and A State of Mind were sports documentaries, Crossing the Line narrates the tale of James Joseph Dresnok, an American soldier who defected to the North in 1962 while stationed at the . It's very gratifying to know that the film encourages discussion and debate about such complex issues, makes me feel like I've done my job! Like most Australians, they have never been exposed to li. 'Crossing the Line' follows the journeys of two young medical students, Amy and Paul, who leave their safe middle class homes and university behind to be thrust into the harsh reality of everyday life on Mornington Island. A tale of struggle and success, the beauty of sport crossing cultural barriers. 'Crossing' Reveals Untold N. Korea Story, Last US defector in North Korea, BBC, 23 January 2007, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crossing_the_Line_(2006_film)&oldid=1127485026, This page was last edited on 15 December 2022, at 00:20. Story Chaoyang District, We see Dresnok's home in Richmond, Virginia, as well as a fellow defector's reunion with his wife in Indonesia. . (Its first public, non-festival screening was on BBC.) By what name was Crossing the Line (2006) officially released in Canada in English? The film was the winner of the prize for Best Documentary about Social and Political Issues at the 2005 ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) Awards . This became a major international scandal at the time, its tentacles even reaching out to ensnare then-President George Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. However, by 2006when this film was in productionglobal awareness of the North had increased. It was first screened in 2007 on the BBC. He had little choice but go to the army when after a first stint in West Germany, he was sent over to the most dangerous border in the world, the DMZ. After several weeks, Paul encounters a young girl who is brandishing a rope, threatening suicide. It's a strange and fascinating tale, all . A State of Mind occasionally relied on the voyeuristic pleasure derived from glimpses of everyday life in Pyongyang. 56mins. No one knows why they defected, until now. present, BBC, E Pictures, Koryo Tours, IFG2, In making the film, the filmmakers had astonishing access to Dresnok, his daily life in North Korea, his and the other defector families, and even the North Korean soldier who captured him in 1962.Thesesights have never been seen before to anyone outside North Korea, and even to most North Koreans. In 1962 a U.S. solider sent to guard the peace in South Korea undertook an extraordinary journey, at the height of the Cold War he deserted his unit and walked across the most heavily fortified area on Earth and defected to an alien communist state, North Korea. The film elicits a wide range of responses about the thorny issues of 'crossing the line' in a medical professional sense. After arriving at the Mornington Island Community Hospital, life expands for the two students. The Mt Isa supervisors, in their weekly tele-conference with Amy and Paul, perceive that Paul has crossed the line and that suicide is an issue he should not touch on. In 1962, the 20 year old PFC James Dresnok was serving in the demilitarised zone between North Korea and South Korea when he just headed across in the northern side of the border. [5][6][7][8], Robert Willoughby The Bradt Travel Guide: North Korea 2008, page 39 "In a further twist, they found film fame with roles in DPRK films vilifying the US, with Dresnok typecast as an evil American and making firm friends with several North Korean film stars who appear in Crossing the Line and discussed the ", Justin Corfield, Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang 2013, page 43 "After Doina died of lung cancer, Dresnok married the daughter of a Togolese diplomat and a North Korean woman, and had a son. "IT MAKE FOR REMARKABLE, RIVETING VIEWING AND GIVES A RARE AND UNSENTIMENTAL INSIGHT INTO ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S REMOTE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES. Project-specific support provided by Screen Australia's production investment programs since the agency's inception in July 2008. A British documentary about US Army defector James Dresnok currently living in North Korea after having defected during the 60s. It would address reculturation and the rejuvenation of Aboriginal identities. Each episode allows the listener to experience the numerous barriers faced and the ways people . Now, the American defector's astonishing story is being told for the first time in a documentary called Crossing The Line. To the filmmakers' credit, they don't shy away from this. Read all Director Kaye Harrison Writer Kaye Harrison Stars Crossing The Line. Video available from Ronin Films, phone (02) 62480851or Publication of your online response is Classification: Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G, Proceed with ordering this titleand for pricing information . [Dresnok and a friend converse while fishing]. Cinequanon and Dongsoong Art Center, Executive Producers: Its fraught history is explained well in the film when it chronicles the Korean War and the societal perception of the United States. Our most ambitious documentary and the most amazing of stories if this was fiction it would be unbelievable: In the 1960's, four US soldiers serving in the Korean Demilitarised Zone embarked on an extraordinary journey. Similarly. The narrative tours the globe and spans decades. General Rules on Crossing the Line a. He worked for the Korean Peoples Army as an English teacher, learned the language and the system. Michael Palin travels to DPRK on the most revealing journey of my life". We hear about Dresnok's deeply scarring time in the fifties after dropping out of high school, the shock he felt in the early sixties when new to Korean society, and his health problems after the turn of the century. Going to the cinema. It reminds us that there are still many stories to be told about North Korea, and that any life inside this Hermit Kingdom is not as self-contained as we might assume. North Korea as a setting offers artists so much enigma and drama because the country itself is larger than life. Crossing the line [video recording]. The eccentricities associated with its leaders, the Kim dynasty, and the hardline communism they've forced upon the country also make audience immersion a fait accompli. One supervisor cautions Paul against building up an expectation that youre going to make a change. 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