NORTH KOREA: A DAY IN THE LIFE

Few places on Earth are as mysterious to outsiders as North Korea. Because its borders are closed to the outside world, Westerners have almost no sense of what everyday life is like there. Dutch filmmaker Pieter Fleury tracks a day in the life of an average family. This film is sure to make Kim Jong Il glow with pride. The rest of the world, however, may be shocked by this beautifully haunting documentary.

The day begins with a nutritious breakfast at the home of Hong Sun Hui, a female worker in a textile factory. Cameras follow as Mrs. Hong goes off to the factory, her brother goes to school to learn about an abstraction called "the internet," and her daughter goes to kindergarten, where she learns that "flowers need the sun and she needs the love of the Great Leader to grow." At the end of the day, the three reconvene and share their stories as any normal family would, unaware of the massive amount of propaganda they've encountered in one short day.

Representatives from the North Korean film bureau were able to dictate much of what Fleury was allowed to record. But in a film with no narration, Fleury has presented as close to a subjective view as possible without being allowed to say a word. The result is a film that encourages viewers to interpret what they see for themselves.

Mary Kerr

Pieter Fleury was born in 1955 and graduated from the Dutch Film Academy in 1978. Since then, he has made over 50 films, including the shorts A LEAP BY SIX FROGS (1992) and DIALOGUE WITH VIOLENCE (1994), the corporate film THE MANY FACES OF PSORIASIS (2002) and many documentaries, including THE INVISIBLE TRUTH (2000) and RAMSES (2002), winner of Best Long Documentary at the Dutch Film Festival 2002.

Print Source:
Matthew Henderson, Seventh Art Releasing
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Los Angeles, CA 90046
Tel: 323.845.1455
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PRECEDED BY...LIVING TO WORK
Leah Wolchok
USA, 2004, 9 minutes

This visual poem explores the relationship between the upper class obsession with success and the working class struggle to make ends meet, asking whether living to work is living at all.

Print Source:
Leah Wolchok
1021 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Tel: 415.637.7390
Email: leahwolchok@yahoo.com

Friday 6/17 at 3:00 p.m.

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