Read on Mobile

Russian Filmmaker Exposes N.Korean Propaganda Machine

Russian Filmmaker Exposes N.Korean Propaganda Machine

Vitaly Mansky

"Under the Sun"by Russian director Vitaly Mansky opens in theaters here on Wednesday to shine an unprecedented light on the North Korean propaganda machine.

"I wanted to make a film about North Korea, but there's no real life in the way that we consider", Mansky told the Chosun Ilbo in Seoul on Tuesday. "There is just the creating of an image of the myth of a real life. So we made a film about fake reality".

He said the North Korean government wanted something like the "Truman Show", where everything is tightly controlled and orchestrated.

Mansky swiftly changed focus to the propaganda machine itself, surreptitiously recording every staged shot as it was being set up.

He was born in the Soviet Union. "I wanted to make a film in North Korea because of my curiosity about Russia's past", he said. "But I encountered scenes that were completely different than what I expected. If there's anyone who believes North Korea is a good place to live in, I would like to tell him to try living there".

The film makers had no say in the locations and interview subjects, and any answers were scripted by North Korean minders. Mansky and his film crew were under constant surveillance by North Korean authorities and had to submit each day's footage to the censors.

But North Korea's extreme isolation from the outside world ended up helping the director, because authorities were unfamiliar with digital cameras and did not know they were being constantly filmed.

Mansky submitted only 30 percent of his footage to the censors. Asked how he managed to smuggle out the rest, he declined to elaborate.

Late last year, North Korea wrote to the Russian Foreign Ministry demanding a ban on"Under the Sun"at the Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia and called for the film makers to be punished.

Manksy said North Korean authorities sent three more letters to the Russian government afterwards and asked him to come to Pyongyang "for an important talk", But he told them he was not dumb enough.

But he still wants to show the film in North Korea one day.  

Source from :Hancinema