Rare screening for North Korean film at Busan festival

BUSAN, South Korea—A North Korean romantic comedy about a female coalminer who dreams of becoming a trapeze artist was given a rare screening before a South Korean audience on Wednesday.

South Korea normally bans all forms of media from the North but the government made an exception for the romantic comedy “Comrade Kim Goes Flying”, screening at the 17th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

“We are proud to say that we have played our part in the cultural exchange between North and South Korea,” said festival director Lee Yong-kwan, adding that he hoped more films from the North would be screened in the future.

The screening saw BIFF extend its first ever invitation to a team behind a North Korean production. The film’s co-director Kim Gwang-hun was unable to attend, but fellow directors Anja Daelemans, from Belgium, and Brit Nicholas Bonner made the trip.

“There just wasn’t enough time to arrange for Kim to come as we only received the invitation in late September,” said Bonner.

“But we are thrilled to be here. It is an exciting opportunity for North Korean film and our dream now is to see the film released in cinemas in South Korea,” he said.

Comrade Kim stars Han Jong-Sim as a young woman who works in a coalmine but follows her dream of becoming a trapeze artist. The filmmakers said they aimed to make a piece of pure entertainment, albeit one with distinctly North Korean characteristics.

“We wanted people to come out of the cinema with a smile,” said Daelemans, who received Oscar nominations as producer for her two short films Gridlock (2002) and Tanghi Argentini (2006).

“I think there are two types of movies — movies you make for yourself and movies you make for an audience. This is a movie for the audience,” she said.

“We intended to make a film, full stop,” added Bonner. “You can’t not want to make that film.”

Bonner previously made North Korea-focused documentaries “The Game of Their Lives” (2002), “A State of Mind” (2004) and “Crossing the Line” (2006), and is one of the driving forces behind the Koryo Group that arranges tours to the country.

He met Daelemans at the Berlin film festival in 2002 and the concept of Comrade Kim later evolved over a few glasses of whiskey.

The film had its world premiere at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival and also screened at the Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea. The filmmakers are currently looking for an international distribution deal.

BIFF has only twice previously screened North Korean films. Director Shin Sang-ok had both “Salt” and “Runaway” on the program in 2001, while in 2003 there was a special screening section of five films from the country.

Comrade Kim will screen again on Friday, the day before this year’s BIFF closes.