Fathom Film Group will be embarking on a doc-filming journey with two war vets from the Iran-Iraq war. MY ENEMY, MY BROTHER follows the story of Zahed and Najah, former enemies who saved one another and became blood brothers. Now living in Vancouver, they plan to return to their home countries to search for missing loved ones. We will follow them on their journey and open out the documentary filmmaking process to viewers. Viewers are invited to participate in the search for Z

BravoFact has announced the first round of award recipients for the BravoFactual Short Docs and it is good news for our doc-in-progress Saving The Enemy! We were awarded a grant by the BravoFactual Inaugural Short Docs Jury. The grant will fund the production of a short documentary version of Saving The Enemy, which will be featured on BravoFact.com. Congratulations to Ann Shin, Melanie Horkan, Steve Guise, Jamie Shen, Robert Steel, Jonathan Howells, with special thanks to Al

Last night in Toronto, Next Media Events hosted their annual Digi Awards to celebrate the companies, products and people making waves in the digital media industry. We are proud to announce that The Defector Interactive won the award for Best in Cross Platform Non-Fiction! If you have haven’t yet had the chance to use the Interactive, you can still check it out – experience.thedefectormovie.com Thank you to everyone that took the time to vote in the online poll, we might neve

The Defector is on the Front Page of the NYTimes today! An exclusive OpDocs piece was prepared for the NYTimes and it spent the morning claiming the front-and-center space on the front page. The feature builds awareness about the Nine young North Korean defectors who were captured in Laos last week and repatriated back to North Korea through China. They range in age from 14 to 22, and are said to be orphaned Kotjebi. They are among tens of thousands of defectors living in hid

After three sold out screenings of The Defector: Escape from North Korea, our Canadian premiere at Hot Docs has come to a close. We would like to thank everyone that came out, all those in the line-ups spanning around the block, and in the packed audiences. The amazing reception has made this our most successful premiere yet! We had lots of outstanding press from The CBC, CTV News Canada, Global News, The Toronto Star, and Random House as well as some great response from blog

We are very excited to announce that The Defector will officially be having its Canadian Premiere at Canada’s International Documentary Film Festival – Hot Docs – this April! We invite you to attend one of our three screenings: Sat, Apr 27 – 9:00 PM           Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 4 Mon, Apr 29 – 3:30 PM        Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 5 Sat, May 4 – 6:30 PM                                               The Regent For all of our Toronto supporters who missed the world

Check out Jordan Ginsberg’s interview with Ann Shin about North Korea’s “tourism,” latest provocative threats, and making The Defector. “Most defectors not only agree, they’re bitterly angry about it. I’ve heard many different defectors call Kim Jong-il the biggest “gangster thief” in the world, saying they’ve been robbed of their lives by their dictator.” -Ann Shin Read the full interview here! #northkorean #interactivedocumentary #kimjongil #annshin #fathomfilmgroup #doc #n

10 Tips from Kim Jong-Il About Interactive Docs Tuesday, March 12, 2013 – 2pm Austin Convention Center Austin Suite 10 important tips you need to know when making a web doc, by award-winning agency Jam3 and Fathom Film Group (and of course Kim Jong-Il). We give the inside scoop on how to get funding, how to leverage assets in a transmedia project and all the do’s and don’t we learned in the school of hard knocks. #northkorean #interactivedocumentary #HannahDonegan #kimjongil

Following the successful launch of The Defector Interactive Experience on Tuesday, February 19, 2013, The Defector has been generating a lot of buzz. It was AdAge’s #1 Pick of the Day, and Fast Company’s Rae Ann Fera writes in her  Co.CREATE article: It’s in this need to build awareness–about human rights atrocities, abuse of power, and the plight of a suffering nation–where interactive storytelling conceived in tandem with a linear documentary can make a significant impact.

Fathom Film Group, in collaboration with digital production and design agency Jam3, is pleased to announce the launch of THE DEFECTOR: ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE. Tumen River Crossing – The Defector Interactive The online web-doc takes users inside the gripping reality of living in North Korea today, allowing you to experience first-hand the brave attempts of those trying to escape. The online experience is based on the true stories of six North Korean def

In an interview with ReelWorld Film Festival, director/producer Ann Shin talks about the experience she had pitching The Defector: Escape from North Korea at the Hot Docs Forum, and gives some advice for those getting ready to pitch. “It was completely nerve wracking,” said Shin. “There are more than 20 people listening to your pitch and the responses of the first two people can affect how the rest of the people respond.  The mood can change and you have no idea which way it’

TVO continues to champion great documentaries and has created an online studio that takes you behind the scenes with featured documentaries. Ann Shin was invited to discuss the importance of making The Defector: Escape From North Korea. “As a Korean-Canadian, I was in a unique position to get intimate access into North Korean stories and to tell it to a Western audience. I started meeting with North Korean defector in Toronto, and learned about a vast global network of people

Avoiding CCTV cameras and meeting a ‘snakehead’ – some of the things Director Ann Shin will be talking about on AM770 in Toronto, 4pm, Saturday, Dec 10. Lessons the crew learned on our recent undercover shoot trip in Asia for our cross-platform documentary ‘The Defector: Escape from North Korea.’ #northkorean #cctv #kimjongil #annshin #fathomfilmgroup #doc #northkorea #surveillance #china #jongil #defectors #documentary #defector #transmedia #crossplatform

We’ve been busy – at Hotdocs, DocXchange, and finishing off 2 new trailers for Pyongyang Express. Here’s one of them for you to watch. This is the demo reel for the Interactive Website we’ve been developing, it’s related to the Pyongyang Express the film. The Pyongyang Express Interactive Website lets you find out what it’s like to try to escape from North Korea. You walk in the shoes of a North Korean refugee and try to find your way across China and into South-East Asia. Ho

Fathom Film Group is selected for DocXchange, a closed conference and market put together by Filmkontakt Nord and Hotdocs. We will be meeting with interactive developers and commissioners from Europe and North America to discuss the latest ideas in the burgeoning field of interactive documentary – everything from gamification (hate the word) to new platforms and business models. #interactivedocumentary #annshin #fathomfilmgroup #doc #hotdocs #pyongyangexpress #gamification #d

Fathom Film Group will be working with the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund as a new partner on the Pyongyang Express multi-media project. Currently in development for Pyongyang Express are an interactive documentary, a social media strategy involving various applications, an educational package and possibly an online social issue game. Fathom Film Group continues to explore innovative approaches to audience engagement and involvement. #northkorean #bellfund #bellnewmedia #f