Beyond Utopia

Winner of the 2023 Sundance U.S. Documentary Audience Award, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia — both a real-life thriller and an eye-opening documentary — is a visceral look at the lengths people will go for freedom. Compiled with captivating, real escape footage, the film follows a family of five as they embark on a treacherous journey out of North Korea, aided by a pastor who has helped thousands flee one of the most oppressive places on Earth. Meanwhile, a mother desperately attempts to reunite with the child she was forced to leave behind. Despite the risk of imprisonment or execution, these individuals fight to be free, and come to see their former North Korean heroes as villains.