North Korea-Focused Film Fund Bearing North Launches With ‘School for Defectors’ (EXCLUSIVE)
A new private grantmaking initiative called Bearing North has launched in Los Angeles to fund films about North Korea, founded by entrepreneurs and film investors Blaine Vess and Esther Paik Vess. The fund will support independent filmmakers worldwide across documentary features, narrative features and shorts, with a stated preference for projects put forward by North Korean defectors, and it matters because it creates a dedicated funding stream for stories that its founders say are otherwise underexplored while the people and places involved remain accessible.
The initiative's advisory board includes documentary director Matt Tyrnauer, journalist Anna Fifield, North Korean defector and author Joseph Kim, and Hannah Song and Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea, an organisation on whose board Blaine Vess has served for over a decade. Bearing North's first supported project is "School for Defectors", directed by Jeremy Workman, which follows students at the Jangdaehyun School in Busan, South Korea, an institution serving North Korean defectors and their families. The couple have previously backed North Korea-themed documentaries including "I Am Sun Mu", "Assassins" and "Beyond Utopia", and grant applications for the new fund are now open.
In short
- New fund Bearing North backs films about North Korea, launched in LA.
- Founded by Blaine and Esther Paik Vess; favours defector-led projects.
- First project: "School for Defectors", set at a Busan school for defectors.
Explained simply
North Korea is a tightly controlled country, and some people leave to seek safety or a different life elsewhere. Those who settle in South Korea are known as defectors, and adjusting to a new society can bring practical and personal challenges for them and their families.
Bearing North is a private fund set up by film investors Blaine Vess and Esther Paik Vess to support independent films about North Korea. It is open to filmmakers around the world, with a stated preference for projects proposed by defectors, and its advisory board includes filmmakers, journalists and people with experience supporting North Korean defectors.
Its first supported film follows students at Jangdaehyun School in Busan, which serves defectors and their families. The fund creates a dedicated source of support for films on a subject its founders say has received limited attention.