Festival audience members rose to their feet, cheered, and shouted “Bravo” as Pastor Kim, director Madeleine Gavin, and several former North Koreans the network has helped (including the Ro family) came onstage for the post-film Q&A.

The film is told in thriller style, arguably most effective in following the Ro family, an 80-year-old grandmother, her daughter and son-in-law, and two frightened little girls. In one long scene, they creep through a jungle at night with headlamps, clamber over rocks and up steep inclines, over running streams of water — turning off their lights and hunkering down when they hear a dog barking or vehicles passing in the distance. That one leg, alone, of their journey took 10 hours, all on foot.

Read our Sundance 2023 Premiere Coverage for more: sndnc.org/3Jn35HU