jsnom-blog

[jsnom-blog]

Updated Production Reel for 2019 including collaborations with TIFF, Apple, Great Big Story and more.

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A photo I took that became the opening shot of my documentary film LETTERS FROM PYONGYANG was featured on my favorite Instagram account ever Accidentally Wes Anderson! When I took the picture 9 years ago, I was obsessed with The Royal Tenenbaums and definitely had Anderson’s aesthetic in mind when I was in the hotel room. I even had my film’s composer Luigi Allemano have the string quartet record a composition by Debussy that was similar to the Ravel Quartet in F Major from the Tenenbaums soundtrack. Glad to see this come full circle — even though it’s not the real Wes Anderson, I appreciate their rigueur and I’ll take it! Instagram photography bucket list checked! 

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About two years ago, I wrote and produced this video with Lilly Singh and an amazing team over at TIFF.  As you can see for yourself, Lilly was already a seasoned host before the world even knew it. 

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Filming Luc Chamberland's interview for Seth's Dominion #nfb #cbc #drawnandquarterly #seth (at Office national du film du Canada)

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Limited Availability now on Vimeo On Demand https://vimeo.com/ondemand/17563

*Asian Release expected at the end of September after the Korean Festival Premiere!

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Filmmaker @jsnom travels to North Korea w/ father in search of lost relatives. Debut tonight on the doc channel. http://t.co/ZfwaWIwT25

— cbcdocs (@cbcdocs) June 16, 2014

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Letters from Pyongyang Canadian Television Premiere

June 16 11:30 PM EST / 8:30 PM PST on documentary channel

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Letters from Pyongyang featured on documentary channel’s main page highlighting the Canadian television broadcast premiere June 16 2014 at 11:30 PM EST / 8:30 PM PST 

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We were invited to visit the Institute of Traditional Korean Food where Dr. Sook-Ja Yoon gave us a personal tour of the Tteok Museum and prepared wonderful delicacies with her staff at the Tteok Café. I highly recommend making a little trip to the Tteok Café and the Museum if you are ever in Seoul. www.kfr.or.kr 

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During my recent visit to Seoul I got a chance to meet with the delightful President of the Institute of Traditional Korean Food and author Sook-Ja Yoon. She recently authored a new cookbook about traditional Korean food from Kaesong - even though it is in present day 'North Korea', the traditions of Korean food are part of a unified past.

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Just received a card from our relatives in Pyongyang congratulating us on the success of the film. The card depicts the ‘Kimjongilia’ flower and the mystical Paektu mountains of Korea. We hope to be able to show them our film some day soon!

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I have come across some comments about Letters from Pyongyang that seem to have missed the boat completely on what my intentions as the filmmaker behind this project were. Of course there are obvious issues when tackling any subject based in the DPRK but my main goal and the focus always was to...

[jsnom-blog]

Stopped by the BBC Broadcast House to talk about ‘Letters from Pyongyang’ and the dire situation faced by divided families on the BBC World News programme GMT.

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BBC Broadcast House!

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Will be in London this Friday for the Frontline Club & DocHouse special evening of Shorts at the Frontline Club followed by a panel discussion on 'Filming the Unfilmable.' lettersfrompyongyang:

LETTERS FROM PYONGYANG OFFICIAL TRAILER

AWARDS: Al Jazeera Golden Award Winner - Aljazeera Int’l Documentary Film Festival - Doha, Qatar 2013 Best Documentary Jury Prize - Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest, Palm Springs, California, USA 2013

UPCOMING SCREENINGS: Special Presentation - Frontline Club & DocHouse presents an Evening of Shorts - October 25 7:00 PM Fronline Club, London, UK Official Selection - Korean American Film Festival - October New York, New York, USA - Village East Cinema- October 26 2:30 PM  Official Selection - Reel Asian International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - AGO Jackman Hall - November 6 - 1:00 PM Official Selection - California Independent Film Festival, Moraga, California, USA - Orinda Theatre - November 8 - 3:30 PM  Official Selection - St. Louis International Film Festival - St. Louis, Missouri, USA - Tivoli Theatre - November 19 5:00 PM

PAST SCREENINGS: Official Selection - RIDM : Montreal International Documentary Festival - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2012 Official Selection - Sapporo International Short Film Festival - Sapporo, Japan 2013 Official Selection - Off-Courts Trouville Film Festival - Trouville-sur-mer, France 2013

A filmmaker and his father embark on a rare personal journey to reconnect with lost relatives in North Korea. The film explores the tragic events of a divided family’s painful past that unfolded during the Korean War and the modern day quest for closure.

Media coverage: Australia’s Weekend Sunrise Channel 7, The Korea Times Los Angeles, The Montreal Gazette, Radio-Canada Deshautels, La Presse, The Desert Sun, The Qatar Tribune, KoreAm Magazine

MORE INFO: lettersfrompyongyang.com facebook.com/lettersfrompyongyang twitter.com/northkoreafilm