Under the Sun

Under the Sun (2015)

Im Strahl der Sonne

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.

Date of release
2015-10-30
TMDB
7.2 / 10 (134)
Runtime
1h 50m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Vitaly Mansky

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: €390K
  • Filmed in: Pyongyang
  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 0. Including: Golden Kingfisher Award for the best documentary

Under the Sun is a 2015 documentary film directed by Vitaly Mansky. It depicts a year in the life of a family in Pyongyang, North Korea, as their daughter, Zin-mi, prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the Day of the Shining Star.

Production

Mansky conceived the project as a film set in a country similar to the Soviet Union. He envisioned it to be "a time machine" to the Soviet Union under Stalin, and a means to better understand his country's history. Prior to the project, Mansky stated that he had not previously visited North Korea and "only knew what most of us knew".

Russian company Vertov.Real Cinema began negotiations to secure permission to shoot a film in North Korea in 2013. The negotiations with the North Korean Ministry of Culture lasted two years. The project was finalized as a portrait of an 8-year-old school girl named Zin-mi and her family in Pyongyang, focusing on her preparing to join the Korean Children's Union on the Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong Il's birthday).

After arriving in North Korea, Mansky was not permitted to go anywhere by himself, and could not directly speak with any of his subjects. Realizing that the North Korean government intended to make a propaganda film, Mansky decided to keep the cameras rolling between shots. The film crew captured footage of North Korean handlers staging scenes and instructing characters on how to behave and what dialogue to say.

The film was initially financed by Vertov.Real Cinema. Later, funding was provided by Saxonia Entertainment and MDR from Germany, and Hypermarket Films from the Czech Republic. Per the contract with the North Korean government, the North Korean Ministry of Culture received credit as a co-producer, although they did not provide any financial support for the film.

North Korea permitted only Mansky, cinematographer Alexandra Ivanova, and a sound assistant to visit the country. Unknown to North Korean authorities, Mansky hired a Russian translator who was fluent in Korean, but had no experience in sound recording, to act as the sound assistant, explaining: "She [the translator] was our spy.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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