Jung Haneul was a North Korean soldier on the frontlines with South Korea when he decided to escape, making a high-stakes journey across the inter-Korean border in search of freedom and a better life.

Now more than a decade later, he is making his directorial debut with the short film “Two Soldiers,” a work that draws on his experiences in the DPRK military to shed light on the contrasting lives and perspectives of soldiers in the country he was forced to flee.