Pyongyang International Film Festival

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]

Pyongyang International Film Festival
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl
Hancha
Revised RomanizationPyeongyang Gukje Yeonghwa Chukjeon
McCune–ReischauerP'yŏngyang Kukche Yŏnghwa Ch'ukchŏn

History

The event originated in 1987 as the Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-aligned and Other Developing Countries.[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.

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 and U.S.-produced South African drama Cry, The Beloved Country. Bend it like Beckham won the music prize and later it became the first Western-made film shown on television in North Korea.

In 2006, the Swedish horror comedy Frostbiten was shown at the festival, the first foreign horror film to ever be shown in North Korea.

The Schoolgirl's Diary, which premiered at the 2006 festival, in 2007 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.[4]

Organization

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".[5]

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.[6] South Korean films are not shown because of the current political climate.[7] Films critical of North Korean 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.[5] 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.[5] 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."[8]

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.

Major Award Winners
YearBest Film Grand PrixBest DirectorBest ActorBest Actress
19871st A Broad Bellflower Jamshid Mashayekhi
for The Grandfather		 O Mi-ran
for A Broad Bellflower
19902nd Little Bird of Happiness Omar Sharif
for The Puppeteer		 O Mi-ran
for Traces of Life
19923rd Nation and Destiny (Parts 1 & 2) Alireza Khamseh
for Apartment No.13		 Shabana Azmi
for Libaas
19944th The Forest of Reed Abolfazl Poorarab
for The Bride		 Kim Kyong-ae
for The Kind-Hearted Girl
19965th Red Cherry Guo Keyu
for Red Cherry
19986th Myself in the Distant Future Khosrow Shakibai
for Long Lost Sisters		 Kim Hye-gyong
for Myself in the Distant Future
20007th The Lost Love Bassam Kousa
for The Extras		 Jang Son-hui
for The Earth of Love
20028th[9] The Star Kim Chol
for Souls Protest		 Hedieh Tehrani
for Party
20049th Gone Is the One Who Held
Me Dearest in the World		 Wang Zhiwen
for On the Other Side of the Bridge
200610th[10] Before the Fall Stéphane Brizé
for Not Here to Be Loved		 Jan Decleir
for Off Screen		 Sara Capretti
for Sternenberg
200811th[11] Assembly Feng Xiaogang
for Assembly		 Saša Petrović
for It's Hard to Be Nice		 Bita Farrahi
for Mainline
201012th[12] Walking to School Khosro Masumi
for Wind Blows in the Meadow		 Fyodor Dobronravov
for A Man at Home		 Martina Gedeck
for Bets and Wedding Dresses
201213th Lessons of a Dream3 Directors
for Comrade Kim Goes Flying		 Daniel Brühl
for Lessons of a Dream		 Polina Kutepova
for Wind House
201414th My Beautiful Country Shi Wei
for The Ferry		 Zhou Guangda
for The Ferry		 Svetlana Khodchenkova
for Vasilisa
201615th The Story of Our Home Oleg Assadulin
for The Green Carriage		 Andrey Merzlikin
for The Green Carriage		 Paek Sol-mi
for The Story of Our Home
201816th The Woman Behind the Man Klim Shipenko
for Salyut		 Li Xuejian
for The Woman Behind the Man		 He Saifei
for Goddesses in the Flames of War
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See also

References
  1. "Pyongyang International Film Festival". PIFF. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. James Bell (January 2009). "In a lonely place: North Korea's Pyongyang International Film Festival". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  3. Schönherr 2012, p. 12.
  4. Burke, Jason (2006-10-22). "Cinematic bombshell from Kim". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  5. Schönherr 2012, p. 11.
  6. "North Korea Film Festival", LA Times, October 11, 2008.
  7. "Festival brings (some) world cinema to Pyongyang". AFP. 24 September 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  8. Moxley, Mitch (2015-02-03). "The Reddest Carpet: I Survived the North Korean Film Festival". GQ Magazine.
  9. "Pyongyang Film Festival closes". Korean Central News Agency. 2002-09-14.
  10. "Pyongyang Int'l Film Festival Closes". Korean Central News Agency. 2006-09-22.
  11. "Pyongyang International Film Festival Closes". Korean Central News Agency. 2008-09-27.
  12. "Int'l Film Festival Closes". Korean Central News Agency. 2010-09-24.

Works cited
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