Red flags, not red carpet: Local film wins North Korean fest
PYONGYANG, Korea, Democratic People’s Republic Of — And the envelope, please!
This year’s Pyongyang International Film Festival wrapped up Friday with top honours going to — wait for it — a domestically produced feature about a young woman who selflessly devotes herself to raising orphans.
The winner of the “Best Torch Award,” selected by a panel of international judges, was “Story About My House,” a drama about Ri Jong A, who wins the honours of leader Kim Jong Un for devoting herself to raising orphans after graduating from school. The prizes were announced at a lavishly decorated hall in central Pyongyang replete with glittery gowns, golden trophies and colorful stage lighting — but no red carpets.
Like all state-sanctioned art in North Korea, the winning feature, released in September, has an explicitly political message. State media emphasized the heroine’s “ennobling mental world” and traits that are “the precious fruition of the validity and vitality of the (ruling) party’s idea and line of prioritizing the youth.” The North also entered a documentary, “Prosperous Pyongyang,” and the animated “Two Boys Who Found an Answer” in the completion part of the festival.