defection
14 movies and shows
The Hunt for Red October
Fri, 02 Mar 1990
A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. Lone CIA analyst Jack Ryan has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it - because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find Ramius, too. The hunt is on!
Despite the Falling Snow
Fri, 29 Jan 2016
New York, 1961. Alexander Ivanov, a high-ranked Soviet bureaucrat, reluctantly defects to the West while is part of a diplomatic mission, feeling the grief of being unable to know the fate of his wife Katya, whom he has had to leave behind in Moscow. Only many years later, in 1991, he will finally find out the truth when his niece Lauren travels to Moscow to participate in a painting exhibition.
One Summer Night
Fri, 21 Oct 2016
Caught in forbidden love, Yong Joon defects from North Korea, leaving Jae Sung behind. Years later, a reunion forces him to choose between past and present.
Funeral in Berlin
Thu, 22 Dec 1966
Colonel Stok, a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to smuggle him out of East Germany.
The White Crow
Fri, 31 Aug 2018
The story of Rudolf Nureyev, whose escape to the West stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. With his magnetic presence, Nureyev emerged as ballet’s most famous star, a wild and beautiful dancer limited by the world of 1950s Leningrad. His flirtation with Western artists and ideas led him into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the KGB.
Pentathlon
Sat, 04 Jun 1994
When East German Eric Brogar wins a gold medal in the pentathlon, he escapes to freedom in the west with the help of a beautiful American athlete. But his demanding coach, Heinrich Mueller vows revenge and Eric's best friend and his father pay the ultimate price for his freedom when they are killed by the Secret Police. In Los Angeles, Eric starts to train for the gold again. But when Mueller comes to America, Eric must win the most deadly game of all… the fight for his life.
An Englishman Abroad
Tue, 29 Nov 1983
Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.
Eminent Domain
Fri, 12 Apr 1991
A high-ranking Polish politburo member is banished from the party, and must find out why. Set in 1979 Poland before the Solidarity events.
Man on a Tightrope
Thu, 21 May 1953
The owner of an impoverished circus in Communist-ruled Czechoslovokia plots to flee across the border to freedom, taking his entire troupe of performers and wild animals with him.
Nureyev
Tue, 25 Sep 2018
An insight into the life of the world's most famous male dancer, Rudolf Nureyev.
The Defection of Simas Kudirka
Mon, 23 Jan 1978
Based on the true story of the attempted defection in 1970 by a Lithuanian seaman seeking political asylum in the United States. Kudirka was denied asylum and returned to the Soviets, charged with treason, and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. It was later discovered and verified that his mother had been born in Brooklyn and gone to Lithuania at a young age, which meant she was a U. S. citizen. As a result, Kudirka was declared a U. S. citizen and in 1974 released by the Soviets.
Where the Spies Are
Wed, 26 Jan 1966
A local doctor is recruited as a cold war spy to fulfill a very important secret mission in the Middle East, only to experience that his mission is complicated by a sexy female double agent.
Guns in the Heather
Mon, 07 Jul 1969
An American foreign exchange student in Ireland, Rich Evans (Kurt Russell), gets caught up in espionage when a dying man gives him a message to pass to his older brother, who is an American intelligence agent unbeknownst to Rich. Rich and his friend are then kidnapped by an Eastern Bloc agent pretending to be from the American Embassy in the hopes that they will lead him to a scientist who is attempting to defect to the West. Originally aired in 3 parts on 'Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color' TV series, then re-edited into a theatrical feature in Europe under the title, 'The Secret of Boyne Castle.'
The Spy Who Went Into the Cold
Tue, 01 Jan 2013
A documentary about Kim Philby, a British member of MI6 who was in reality a spy and defected to the U.S.S.R.