Documentary
Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il's birthday) celebration. While North Korean government wanted a propaganda film, the director kept on filming between the scripted scenes. The ritualized explosions of color and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Land Without Bread
Railway Station
A Hero's Death
Left Behind
The Red Princess
Homes Apart: Korea
Beyond Utopia
A Japanese Pipe Dream
Ryeohaeng
Reverse
Victory in the West
Markiplier from North Korea
Russification in pop style
Merchants of Doubt
Assassins
Triedny nepriateľ
Le Parti du cinéma
Greenfingers
Bureau 39: Kim's Cash Machine
Kimjongilia
SIMILAR MOVIES
Land Without Bread
IMDB 7.1 | Dec , 1933
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.Railway Station
IMDB 4.7 | Jan , 1980
Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.A Hero's Death
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2001
It was the biggest escape in the history of the Berlin Wall: in one historic night of October 1964, 57 East-Berliners try their luck through a tunnel into West Berlin. Just before the last few reach the other side, the East German border guards notice the escape and open fire. Remarkably, all the refugees and their escape agents make it out of the tunnel unscathed, but one border guard is dead: 21-year-old officer Egon Schultz.Left Behind
IMDB 5.5 | Jan , 1994
Leading biblical scholars and religious experts discuss the implications of the Rapture, when prophecies predict that Jesus Christ will return to Earth and his true believers will be transported to meet him.The Red Princess
IMDB 7 | Apr , 2022
Who is Kim Yo-jong? In a context of maximum tensions between North Korea and the United States, Pierre Haski paints an unprecedented portrait of the little sister of Kim Jong-un, whose influence in Pyongyang is growing stronger day by day.Homes Apart: Korea
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1991
They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.Beyond Utopia
IMDB 7.7 | Oct , 2023
A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.A Japanese Pipe Dream
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1943
When this propaganda film begins the narrator states that before the beginning of World War II, Japan was the only one of thirty-five nations to refuse to sign an anti-narcotics treaty and alleges that this was because the country's leaders planned to use drugs as a weapon of war.Ryeohaeng
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2019
A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.Reverse
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2025
They came to Donbass from different countries in search of truth. And they stayed on for the sake of those whose voices were not heard. Dialogues about war and duty, a long search for meaning amidst the ruins, working with tragic footage. This is a film about those for whom Donbass has become a refuge of truth.Victory in the West
IMDB 6.3 | May , 1941
A Nazi propaganda film about the lead up to World War II and Germany's success on the Western Front. Utilizes newsreel footage of battles and fell into disfavour with propaganda minister Goebbels because of it's lack of emphasis on Adolf Hitler.Markiplier from North Korea
IMDB 8.3 | Nov , 2022
Markiplier from North Korea: Mark Fischbach, a top gaming YouTuber, learns about his mom's escape from North Korea and his family's history. He meets his relatives, visits the KDZ, and discovers his heritage in this emotional documentary.Russification in pop style
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2024
A documentary about how Russia has been using popular culture as a weapon against Ukraine for decades. Together with industry participants, the film's narrator, musician Albert Tsukrenko, explores the financial, political and psychological reasons for the vulnerability of Ukrainian artists and reflects on how to break this vicious circle. Unfortunately, our own Ukrainian talents are becoming the ammunition in this weapon. Several generations of original Ukrainian musicians at different times in the 1970s and 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and 2010s switched from Ukrainian to Russian in their work. Whether willingly or unwittingly, they became tools of Russian show business, which has always sought to blur the cultural border between Russia and Ukraine and worked to promote the imperial myth of "one nation".Merchants of Doubt
IMDB 7.5 | Nov , 2014
Spin doctors spread misinformation and confusion among American citizens to delay progress on such important issues as global climate change.Assassins
IMDB 6.9 | Aug , 2021
True crime meets global spy thriller in this gripping account of the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of the North Korean leader. The film follows the trial of the two female assassins, probing the question: were the women trained killers or innocent pawns of North Korea?Triedny nepriateľ
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1952
Le Parti du cinéma
IMDB 7.7 | Feb , 2021
Greenfingers
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2022
Following fateful scientific reports, protestors pose the argument for a better future against the vested interest of industry. Small to large, individual to collective, where do I fit into this?Bureau 39: Kim's Cash Machine
IMDB 7.8 | Dec , 2020
How is it possible that North Korea, one of the poorest countries on earth finances a nuclear weapons program large enough to challenge the USA? The answer: Bureau 39, a legendary organization nestled deep inside the government apparatus. Its aim is to procure foreign exchange by any means possible to provide Kim Jong-un’s regime with money.Kimjongilia
IMDB 6.2 | Jan , 2009
The first film to fully expose the humanitarian crisis of North Korea, this stylish, deeply moving documentary is centered around astonishing interviews with survivors of North Korea's vast and largely hidden prison camps, and interspersed with archival footage of North Korean propoganda films and original art performances.