The Lovers & the Despot is a 2016 English-language Documentary Thriller motion picture written and directed by Ross Adam and Robert Cannan and produced by Ross Adam, Robert Cannan, Sheryl Crown and Natasha Dack under the banner of The Documentary Company in collaboration with Hellflower Film, Submarine and Tigerlily Films. The story of the South Korean actor, Choi Eun-hee, and her ex-husband and film director, Shin Sang-ok, who were individually kidnapped and reunited by dictator and film fan Kim Jong-il to force them to develop North Korea's film industry. The lovers & the despot features Choi Eun-hee, Shin Sang-ok, Kim Jong-il, Eun-hie Choi, Paul Courtenay Hyu and Sang-ok Shin. The music was composed by Nathan Halpern. Editing was done by Jim Hession. The film has a running time of 95 minutes. It was released on 23rd September 2016 in English,Korean and Japanese languages. Distribution rights for the film were acquired by Soda Pictures.