

School for Defectors
2026-03-05 · 93 min · Not rated
In an industrial corner of Busan, South Korea, stands the tiny Jangdaehyun School. It is home to 20 students, all of whom are North Korea defectors. With unprecedented access to a community never seen on film, SCHOOL FOR DEFECTORS gives voice to young people whom the world might otherwise overlook—illuminating not just what they’ve endured, but who they are about to become.
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- Jeremy Workman
- Production companies
- Unavailable
- Countries
- United States of America, South Korea
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Cast unavailable.
Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.

A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

After another 7 year wait, director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children from Seven Up! and 7 Plus Seven. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Explore how writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss created the hit television sensation. Take a personal voyage through the versions of Holmes that have served as inspirations for the new series - the original stories, their factual origins, hundreds of film adaptations - to arrive at their thoroughly modern Sherlock. Moffat and Gatiss explain the challenges they encountered adapting the original adventures of the iconic super-sleuth. Go behind the scenes on the set of the hit television series, including interviews with actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Lara Pulver, who talk about the reinvention of their fictional characters.

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.

Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.

Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.

A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.

A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity

On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.

A portrait of singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes' life, chronicling the past few years of his rise and journey.

Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
Similar titles

Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.

A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.

This documentary sheds light on the lives of North Korean defectors in Europe. North Korean defectors who crossed the ideological boundary over to South Korea are often called forth to bear witness to the plight of North Korean society. Rather than creating a discourse about the recovery of divided culture, the focus has been very much on the conflict of ideology. The increasing number of North Korean defectors is a sign of victory. However, the film testifies that a growing number of people are leaving both Koreas behind.

In a Seoul studio, Eunjoo—a North Korean defector—prepares to record an interview about her escape. At the same time, 11-year-old Yesol travels with her family to Jeongseon, a quiet town in Gangwon Province. There, Yesol stumbles upon Eunjoo's memoir. Page by page, she comes to recognise the meaning of human rights and the power of solidarity, as two distant lives begin to rhyme.


Youngsoon defected from North Korea in 2007. Her husband killed himself and her eldest son is in North Korea. She does her best for her little son who came with her. But he thinks that his mother only loved his big brother in the North and resents her for having brought him to South Korea only to be stigamatised as North Korean defector. Youngsoon, who was born as the daughter of a South Korean prisoner of war detained in North Korea, was always poor and her only hope was her eldest son with exceptional talents. To her, her little son is more work than hope.

A documentary about joys, sorrows, ups, and downs experienced by the civil society activist, Lee Eun Taek.

A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.

North Korea has nuclear weapons. How did it manage to get them quietly? Donald Trump is under the impression that as US president he could convince Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, to disarm his nuclear weapons and make peace with South Korea. But how was it possible that one of the poorest countries in the world could acquire the knowledge to produce nuclear-tipped rockets?

Operating under a pseudonym which means 'no boundaries' - North Korean defector Sun Mu creates political pop art based on his life, homeland, and hope for a future united Korea. His hidden identity is nearly compromised when a massive historical exhibit in Beijing is shuttered by Chinese and North Korean authorities.

Portrait of Mrs. B., a tough charismatic North Korean woman who smuggles between North Korea, China and South Korea. With the money she gets, she plans to reunite with her two North Korean sons after years of separation.

An anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.

Dragon smuggles North Korean defectors across borders for a living, and his latest undercover trip with Sook-Ja and Yong-hee takes an unexpected turn when they are left stranded in China. This is just the start of an extraordinary 5,000 km journey.
The story of Lee Tae-shik, a former anti-terrorist unit who worked as a secret agent for the National Intelligence Service, struggling to find his wife Ri Seon-hee, a North Korean defector who went missing on their first anniversary of marriage.

Yong-soo is an ex-soccer player who lives in a small coal-mine village in North Korea with his wife and young son, Joon. Although living in extreme poverty like many other families in North Korea, the family is happy just to be with each other. Then one day, Yong-soo's pregnant wife becomes critically ill. Let alone medicine, Yong-soo can't even find food for her in North Korea. So he decides to secretly cross the border to China hoping to find the medicine for his wife.

Making use of her Chinese that she had picked up while living in China, Han-young obtains her tour guide-interpreter's license and starts working as a guide in Korea. She gets used to her new surroundings and gains good results at work. However, she is forced to face challenges and changes as she loses touch with her brother In-hyuk, and the number of Chinese tourists decreases due to political tension between Korean and China.

After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny.

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.