Beyond Utopia
The story of several families as they attempt to escape oppression in North Korea, revealing a world most of us have never seen
2023 | Running Time: 1 Hour 55 minutes | Rating: PG-13
Beyond Utopia is an American drama-documentary film. The film highlights the poignant story of a Korean Church Pastor named Seungeun Kim, who decides to help out the trapped 1000 North Korean people and uses his underground network to safeguard and rescue them all. He helps those people to attain their freedom. Pastor Seungeun Kim is a South Korean human rights activist and director of the Caleb Mission.
Director Madeleine Gavin has edited award-winning narrative and documentary films that have premiered at Sundance, Toronto, Berlinale, and Cannes, among others. Madeleine directed and edited the Netflix Original Documentary, City of Joy, and she is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Emmy Award-winning producer Jana Edelbaum founded the production company Ideal Partners. Her productions include House of Z, Waiting for Hockney, Strange Weather, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, and Idina Menzel: Which Way To The Stage. Current projects include Kim Snyder’s The Librarians and Barry Jenkin’s biopic about Alvin Ailey.
Emmy Nominated: For Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
“Tense documentary follows the perilous ‘underground railroads’ defectors need to take to escape from the totalitarian state”
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN, 2023
Tags: Documentary, Feature