A documentary film about North Korean defectors will mark the final seminar in the Centre for Refugee Studies’ Fall term series.
The Defector: Escape from North Korea, directed by Korean-Canadian filmmaker Ann Shin, will screen Tuesday, Nov. 26, from 2:30 to 4pm, in 519 Kaneff Tower, Keele campus. A Q-and-A with the director, moderated by York 
Professor and documentary filmmaker Ali Kazimi, will follow the screening.
Shin is an award-winning filmmaker and new media producer whose projects have screened and won awards at festivals including the San Francisco Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, SXSW and New York Festivals.
She has produced and directed programs and series for CBC, Discovery Channel, HGTV, History Channel, W Network, PBS and Fine Living Network. Her film credits include: The Defector: Escape from North Korea, a Gemini nominee for Best Performance Doc; Chris Award-winning Four Seasons Mosaic (CBC); Planet in Focus Film Festival-winning The 
Roswell Incident; Cow vs Clown; and National Film Board Reel Diversity winner Western Eyes.
Ann Shin
Kazimi’s research interests include race, migration, indigeneity, history and memory, with a particular interest in South Asia and Canada. He also has a keen interest in emerging and cutting-edge digital image technologies, and is a collaborative researcher in the interdisciplinary Future Cinema Lab in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He is principal researcher in the Stereoscopic 3D Studio @ York. As director, producer and cinematographer, his credits include Runaway Grooms, Rex vs. Singh and Fig Trees.
His most recent publication is the book Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru (Douglas & McIntyre, 2012). Expanding on his film on the same subject, Continuous Journey, the book addresses an infamous incident in Canadian 
history, when a ship carrying migrants from British India was turned away when it tried to dock in Vancouver Harbour in 1914.
Ali Kazimi
Kazimi’s films have been shown at festivals around the world, winning more than 30 national and international awards and earning a host of nominations.
The Centre for Refugee Studies Seminar Series will resume next term on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014.
For more information, visit the Centre for Refugee Studies website.