The Lovers and the Despot
Short film Completed 2016
Director, Writer
Ross Adam, Rob Cannan
Doc Society helped with
Development
‘The Lovers and the Despot’ is a sensational romance-thriller documentary, a story where art, love and megalomania collide.
In the aftermath of the Korean War, ambitious young film director Shin Sang-ok and emerging talent Choi Eun-hee enter into a glamourous romance and rise to the very top of South Korean society. But their movie-world idyll is shattered after Shin has a scandalous affair and antagonises dictator Park Chung-hee, who cuts short his career. Unable to reconcile, Choi and Shin divorce. Then their lives takes a bizarre turn.
Choi is kidnapped by whimsical dictator's son and movie obsessive, Kim Jong-il, who imprisons her in his summerhouse. Shin desperately searches for his ex-wife, but is abducted and thrown into a North Korean concentration camp. Kept apart for five gruelling years, they are finally reunited by Kim, who declares them his very own filmmakers. As their film careers start afresh, their love for each other is rekindled. Realising that escape from North Korea itself is impossible, only production trips to the far fringes of the Iron Curtain offer them hope. They must first gain Kim’s trust, then find a way to elude their agent minders. Any mistake will mean certain death.
Crew
Ross Adam, Rob Cannan
Director, Writer
Rob’s debut Three Miles North of Molkom won the Audience Award at Gothenburg, was nominated for Best Doc at the BIFAs and played many international festivals, usually ranking top 10 in the Audience Awards. It was released theatrically in several territories to broad critical acclaim: ‘Thoroughly entertaining...miraculous in its execution’ VARIETY, ‘Extraordinary…effortlessly entertaining’ **** THE GUARDIAN - Peter Bradshaw, ‘Delicate, wonderfully nuanced and ultimately very moving...a significant achievement' *** THE TELEGRAPH. Rob is now co-producing and story writing a BFI supported fiction remake of the film, with an Oscar-nominated screenwriter attached. Previously, Rob worked as Nick Broomfield’s AP on ‘Ghosts’ and before that as an Assistant Director on several features and many shorts, working closely with a number of acclaimed directors and cinematographers. Ross has worked with Rob as a co-director, cameraman and editor on numerous short films, music videos, art installations and commercials. This marks their first feature film collaboration.
