SOUTHWEST PREMIERE! Written and directed by Yim Pil-sung—whose claustrophobic 2005 outing ANTARCTIC JOURNAL served up evidence of a promising talent—HANSEL AND GRETEL begins by introducing us to kind-hearted father-to-be Eun-soo (brilliantly essayed by handsome up-and-comer Cheon Jeong-myeong). Having skidded off the motorway on the way to visit his hospitalized mother, our leading man wakes up in the middle of a woodland and, after following a path through the forest, finds a desolate mansion. There he is introduced to three children (one girl of kindergarten age and her sister and brother, who both look to be in their early teens) and their painfully polite “parents,” who insist on cooking him a sumptuous feast and preparing a bed for the night. However, come the next morning, Eun-soo finds that he has been a left a short note from “Mom and Dad” asking that he take care of the kids for the next week (it seems the two elders have had to make a sudden, emergency trip into town). With some of the most detailed art direction you will ever see, HANSEL AND GRETEL serves as a dark, creepy modern fairytale.

CENTERPIECE FILM SOUTHWEST PREMIERE! A heartbreaking and damning indictment of North Korea's despotic leader, Kimjongilia (The Flower of Kim Jong-il) provides the personal accounts of a handful of the hundreds of thousands who have fled the troubled nation over the past decade. Imprisoned (and sometimes born) in forced labor camps, faced with malnutrition, starvation, torture and execution, they describe the hardships and unbearable losses they overcame to escape, usually to China or South Korea. A pianist recalls undergoing strenuous torture and his attempts to safeguard his hands. A former army colonel tells of how under-nourished troops died of disease while others plundered supplies or deserted. South Korean activists attempt to aid refugees, with varying degrees of success. And a singer is told her voice is too similar to a South Korean pop star's, deeming it "capitalist" and unacceptable. Told through very matter-of-fact interviews surrounded by stylistic flourishes that include interpretive dance, child-like sketches of atrocities and clips from propaganda films, Kimjongilia is an emotionally powerful look at a nation in chaos. Official Selection 2009 Sundance Film Festival