Pyongyang International Film Festival

Pyongyang International Film Festival
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	평양 국제 영화 축전
Hancha	平壤國際映畵祝典
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]

History

The event originated in 1987 as the Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-aligned and Other Developing Countries(쁠럭불가담 및 기타 발전도상 나라들의 평양영화축전).^[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]^{[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.^[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

Year		Best Film Grand Prix(홰불금상, golden torch award)	Best Director	Best Actor	Best Actress
1987	1st	A Broad Bellflower		Jamshid Mashayekhi for The Grandfather	O Mi-ran for A Broad Bellflower
1990	2nd	Little Bird of Happiness		Omar Sharif for The Puppeteer(الاراجوز )	O Mi-ran for Traces of Life (생의 흔적)
1992	3rd	Nation and Destiny (Parts 1 & 2)		Alireza Khamseh for Apartment No.13	Shabana Azmi for Libaas
1994	4th	The Forest of Reed (Cỏ Lau)		Abolfazl Poorarab(ابوالفضل پورعرب) for The Bride(عروس)	Kim Kyong-ae for The Kind-Hearted Girl(고마운 처녀)
1996	5th	Red Cherry			Guo Keyu(郭柯宇) for Red Cherry
1998	6th	Myself in the Distant Future		Khosrow Shakibai for Long Lost Sisters	Kim Hye-gyong for Myself in the Distant Future
2000	7th	The Lost Love(عشق گمشده)		Bassam Kousa for The Extras	Jang Son-hui for The Earth of Love(사랑의 대지)
2002	8th^[9]	The Star		Kim Chol for Souls Protest	Hedieh Tehrani for Party
2004	9th	Gone Is the One Who Held me dearest in the world(世界上最疼我的那个人走了)		Wang Zhiwen for On the Other Side of the Bridge(Am anderen Ende der Brücke)
2006	10th^[10]	Before the Fall	Stéphane Brizé for Not Here to Be Loved	Jan Decleir for Off Screen	Sara Capretti for Sternenberg
2008	11th^[11]	Assembly	Feng Xiaogang for Assembly	Saša Petrović for It's Hard to Be Nice	Bita Farrahi for Mainline
2010	12th^[12]	Walking to School(走路上學)	Khosro Masumi(خسرو معصومی) for Wind Blows in the Meadow(باد در علفزار می‌پیچد)	Fyodor Dobronravov for A Man at Home(Мужчина в доме)	Martina Gedeck for Bets and Wedding Dresses
2012	13th	Lessons of a Dream	3 Directors for Comrade Kim Goes Flying	Daniel Brühl for Lessons of a Dream	Polina Kutepova for Wind House
2014	14th	My Beautiful Country	Shi Wei(石伟) for The Ferry	Zhou Guangda (周光大) for The Ferry (我的渡口)	Svetlana Khodchenkova for Vasilisa
2016	15th	The Story of Our Home (우리집 이야기)	Oleg Asadulin for Green Carriage	Andrey Merzlikin for Green Carriage	Paek Sol-mi for The Story of Our Home
2018	16th	The Woman Behind the Man	Klim Shipenko for Salyut	Li Xuejian for The Woman Behind the Man (老阿姨, also translated as Old aunt)	He Saifei for Goddesses in the Flames of War