Assassins

Invited

In 2017 Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was killed in Malaysia. After arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, he was approached by two individuals who spread VX nerve agent on his eyes and face. The attack transpired over a matter of minutes, and within hours he was dead. The incident was captured by airport security cameras, and it did not take long for authorities to apprehend his assailants: two young women, one Indonesian and the other Vietnamese. Stunned by their arrests, the pair, who claimed not to know each other, professed that they had been recruited to take part in a hidden-camera prank show. Malaysian officials maintained that they were assassins. Director Ryan White meticulously examines the evidence and the events leading up to the murder from multiple angles, revealing a convoluted and confounding plot in which North Korean accomplices to the murder were allowed to leave the country, while the two suspects faced trial and a possible sentence of death. Were they ruthless killers or two people whose search for opportunity ensnared them in a murderous conspiracy?  ST

Director

Ryan White

Producers

Jessica Hargrave, Ryan White

Editor

Helen Kearns

Cinematographer

John Benam

Release Year

2019

Festival Year

2020

Country

United States

Run Time

104 minutes

Subtitled

Yes