| Pyongyang International Film Festival | |
 | |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 평양국제영화축전 |
| Hancha | |
| Revised Romanization | Pyeongyang Gukje Yeonghwa Chukjeon |
| McCune–Reischauer | P'yŏngyang Kukche Yŏnghwa Ch'ukchŏn |
The Pyongyang International Film Festival is a biennial cultural exhibition held in Pyongyang,North Korea. Until 2002,the film festival was reserved to "non-aligned and other developing countries". [1]
The event originated in 1987 as the Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-aligned and Other Developing Countries (Korean : 쁠럭불가담및기타발전도상나라들의평양영화축전; RR : Ppeulleokbulgadam Mit Gita Baljeondosangnaradeurui Pyeongyang Yeonghwa Chukjeon; MR : Ppŭllŏkpulgadam Mit Kit'a Palchŏndosangnaradŭrŭi P'yŏngyang Yŏnghwa Ch'ukchŏn). [2] The maiden event,held from September 1 through September 10,showed short films,features,and documentaries that were judged for competitive awards.
The film festival returned in 1990 and would be regularly held every other year. [2] Recurrent subject matter included domestic cinema that commonly praised the high leadership such as a film shown at the 1992 film festival,verbosely translated,Glory of Our People in Holding the Great Leader in High Esteem,and foreign films about revolutionary resistance.[ citation needed ]
In 2000,officials widened the acceptable breadth of film watching by screening Japanese films for the first time when Yoji Yamada arrived to present six of his films. [3] 2002 saw further relaxation of rules and since then the festival has been open to more than just "non-aligned and other developing countries". [1]
The ninth festival,held in 2004,moderated cultural restrictions further with the screening of a dubbed and censored version of the British comedy Bend It Like Beckham [4] and U.S.-produced South African drama Cry,The Beloved Country . [5] Bend it like Beckham won the music prize[ citation needed ] and later it became the first Western-made film shown on television in North Korea. [6] [7]
In 2006,the Swedish horror comedy Frostbite was shown at the festival, [8] the first foreign horror film to ever be shown in North Korea.[ citation needed ] The Schoolgirl's Diary ,which was released the same year,became the first North Korean film in several decades to be picked up for international distribution,when it was purchased by French company Pretty Pictures. It was released in France in late 2007. [9]
The festival was held in the autumn every two years until 2018;after that,the festival has become yearly,with the 17th edition organized in September 2019. It has an international jury and both competitive and non-competitive submissions. In that sense,it is "structured ... very much like any other international film festival". [10]
Since 2000,the festival has been dominated by films from Western Europe. [3] Many of the films are censored and often have themes emphasising family values,loyalty and the temptations of money. In 2008,110 films were shown from a total of 46 countries. [11] South Korean films are not shown because of the current political climate. [12] [ better source needed ] Films critical of North Korea from anywhere in the world are not allowed and neither are sexually explicit films. Anything else goes,and the organizers try to get as many films and visitors to attend. [10] Diplomatic connections or the personal initiative of filmmakers is what often results in a film being admitted. The result is often "an odd mix" of films that are not united by one genre. In recent years,the festival has enjoyed recent popularity abroad,mainly due to the success of South Korean cinema prompting foreign film enthusiasts' curiosity about the North. Consequentially,film submissions have increased and the selection of films has improved in quality. [3]
The festival is one of the few North Korean functions that actively seeks connection with the outside world. [10] Johannes Schönherr,author of North Korean Cinema:A History and a festival delegate in 2000,said "The Pyongyang International Film Festival is a big propaganda event and foreigners who attend the event become extras in the big propaganda show." [13]
Most Japanese films and all American,Taiwanese and South Korean films are banned in North Korea. Taiwanese and South Korean films are banned because of the anti-communist nature of their countries.
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The country's western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan. North Korea, like its southern counterpart, claims to be the sole legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) (Korean: 조선중앙통신) is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946, and now features online coverage.
The Yanggakdo International Hotel is the largest operating hotel in North Korea, pending the completion of the Ryugyong Hotel, and the country's seventh- or eighth-tallest building. The hotel is located on Yanggak Island in the River Taedong, two kilometres (1.2 mi) to the south-east of the centre of Pyongyang, the nation's capital. It rises to an overall height of 170 metres (560 ft) and has a slowly revolving restaurant on the 47th floor.
Rodong Sinmun is a North Korean newspaper that serves as the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. It was first published on 1 November 1945, as Chŏngro, serving as a communication channel for the North Korea Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea. It was renamed in September 1946 to its current name upon the steady development of the Workers' Party of Korea. Quoted frequently by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and international media, it is regarded as a source of official North Korean viewpoints on many issues.
Pulgasari is an epic kaiju film directed and produced in 1985 by Shin Sang-ok during his abduction in North Korea. A multinational co-production between North Korea, Japan, and China, it is considered a remake of the lost 1962 South Korean film also depicting the eponymous creature from Korean folklore. The ensemble cast includes Chang Son-hui, Ham Ki-seop, Ri Jong-kook, Ri In-kwon, and Yoo Kyung-ae, with Kenpachiro Satsuma in the title role. Set during the Goryeo Dynasty, it follows a blacksmith's daughter who brings to life a metal-eating monster envisioned by her late father to defeat the monarchy.
Shin Sang-ok was a South Korean filmmaker with more than 100 producer and 70 director credits to his name. He is best known in South Korea for his efforts during the 1950s and 60s, many of them collaborations with his wife Choi Eun-hee, when he was known as "The Prince of South Korean Cinema". He received posthumously the Gold Crown Cultural Medal, the country's top honor for an artist.
The cinema of North Korea began with the division of Korea and has been sustained since then by the ruling Kim dynasty. Kim Il-sung and his successor Kim Jong-il were both cinephiles and sought to produce propaganda films based on the Juche ideology.
Kim Jong Un is a North Korean politician who has been supreme leader of North Korea since December 2011 and the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.
The Socialist Patriotic Youth League is the main North Korean youth organization. Directly under the party Central Committee, it is the only mass organization expressly mentioned in the charter of the Workers' Party of Korea. Youth under 15 may join the Young Pioneer Corps, itself a part of the larger Korean Children's Union. The organization, modeled after the Komsomol in the former Soviet Union, includes all North Koreans without party membership between the ages of 15 and 30, although married women who opt to become housewives are transferred to the Socialist Women's Union. Officially, the guiding ideology of the organization is Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism.
Koryo Tours is an independent British tour operator based in Beijing, specializing in group and private tourism to North Korea. Their tours run throughout the year covering budget to exclusive trips. There are packages for staying in the capital Pyongyang with visits to the DMZ at the border with the Republic of Korea. At different times of year there are other events such as the Mass Games and the Pyongyang International Film Festival which are available as special tours when they are running.
On the Art of the Cinema is a 1973 treatise by the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is considered the most authoritative work on North Korean filmmaking.
The People's Prize is a North Korean arts and sciences award. It is awarded by the People's Prize Awarding Commission, which is working directly under the Cabinet of North Korea. The prize can be granted to works of art or people. People's Prize has been an important award in the field of North Korean cinema.
The 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of North Korea, was held on 6–9 May 2016.
An Emissary of No Return is a 1984 North Korean historical drama film directed by Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee. Shin also wrote the script. It was the first of four films Shin and Choi made during their abduction to North Korea under the orders of Kim Jong Il. Adapted from Bloody Conference(혈분만국회 ), a play allegedly written by Kim Il Sung during his guerrilla years, the film retells the dramatized story of the Hague Secret Emissary Affair. The affair ensued when the Korean emperor king Gojong sent three unauthorized emissaries to the talks of the Hague Convention of 1907.
Salt is a 1985 North Korean tragedy film directed by Shin Sang-ok. It is the third of Shin's North Korean films after he and his wife Choi Eun-hee were abducted and brought to the country against their will. Choi stars in Salt as an unnamed mother who disapproves of her son after he runs away with guerrillas, but eventually comes to see them as fighting for a just cause. The film is set in 1930s Kando (Jiandao) where ethnic Koreans are persecuted by the Chinese and Japanese.
Love, Love, My Love is a 1985 North Korean musical film in the genre of romantic melodrama. It was directed and produced by South Korea's Shin Sang-ok while he and his wife Choi Eun-hee were abductees in North Korea.
Choe Hyon, also known as Sai Ken, was a North Korean general and politician.
The 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was elected at the party's 8th Congress on 10 January 2021, and will sit until the convocation of the next party congress. In between party congresses and specially convened conferences the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution in the WPK and North Korea. The Central Committee is not a permanent institution and delegates day-to-day work to the Presidium, the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Central Military Commission and the Central Auditing Commission. It convenes meetings, known as "Plenary Session of the [term] Central Committee", to discuss major policies. Only full members have the right to vote, but if a full member cannot attend a plenary session, the person's spot is taken over by an alternate. Plenary session can also be attended by non-members, such meetings are known as "Enlarged Plenary Session", to participate in the committee's discussions.
The 8th Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) (Korean: 8차조선로동당정치국), officially the Political Bureau of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, was elected on 11 January 2021 by the 1st Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee during the 8th WPK Congress.
...the 2006 festival screened Bean, Billy Elliott and Bend It Like Beckham...
In previous editions, the festival has screened feature films including Mr. Bean, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, South Africa's Cry, The Beloved Country and Sweden's Frostbitten.
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