hankyoreh

By Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent

Visitors hoping to see a special North Korean film screening at the Gwangju International Film Festival will need to get a special pass ahead of time.

The organizing committee for the festival, which starts Nov. 8, is holding two screenings of the Chinese-North Korean collaboration “Promise in Pyongyang” (originally titled “Arirang”), a film about a Chinese dancer who builds friendships with North Korean counterparts during her trip to the country.

After making its debut at the Beijing International Film Festival in April, the film was shown in June at the Shanghai International Film Festival, where it reached the finals of the Movie Channel Media Awards.

The Ministry of Unification granted approval on Oct. 30 for the film’s importation, but classified it as “special materials.” The reason for this classification was a message of praise for the North Korean regime that appeared during a seven-minute sequence showing a performance of the country’s Arirang mass games.

A “special materials” classification for approved North Korean books, publications, and films means that any citizen who wishes to read or watch them must first go through an identity confirmation procedure.

In contrast, the North Korean-European collaboration “Comrade Kim Goes Flying” was shown at the recent Busan International Film Festival without any conditions because it was approved as “general materials.”

Observers in the film industry said it was excessive to assign “special materials” status and demand identification according to Cold War standards for a Chinese-North Korean collaboration showing at an international film festival.

The festival organizers decided to distribute passes ahead of time to groups that expressed a wish to see the film, arguing that it would violate human rights to ask people to give personal information to watch a North Korean film.

Organizing committee executive director Yeom Jeong-ho, 51, said the festival rejected an initial request by the Unification Ministry to record personal information from viewers ahead of time.

“We decided to offer a chance to watch by making 280 to 300 passes and giving them to groups that expressed a desire to see a North Korean film,” Yeom explained.

The ministry is maintaining that it only assigned “special materials” status when approving the film, and that it does not intend to involve itself in the screening method.

“‘Special materials’ status is applied when something on the list of items requested for importation from North Korea includes praise for the North Korean regime,” explained an official.

“We explained that people who wish to see a North Korean film classified as ‘special materials’ need to go through an identification procedure beforehand.”

The Gwangju International Film Festival celebrates its twelfth event this year under the theme of “Hope for Peace.” For five days from Nov. 8 to 12, it will be showing 55 short and feature-length films from 14 countries at the Gwangju Megabox theater.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]