Comrade Kim Goes Flying (U*) + ScreenTalk with co-directors Nicholas Bonner and Anja Daelemans

,Barbican Cinema 3
How Comrade Kim looks at the end of a day mining

The UK premiere of North Korea's first 'girl power' movie tells the story of a young coal miner's pursuit of her dream to become an acrobat.

Comrade Kim Yong Mi is a young coalminer who lives with her father and grandmother in the North Korean countryside. As a young girl she had always dreamt of becoming an acrobat, a dream her mother supported. Following her mother's death, her father dismissed her dreams, wanting her to focus on her work. However, her love for acrobats never goes away and when work takes her to Pyongyang, the first thing she does is visit the circus.

Backstage, she meets a famous trapeze artist who encourages her to audition. But at the audition Yong Mi finds she cannot cope with the height and falls. She is mocked by Pak Jang Phil, the handsome, arrogant trapeze star, who tells her that miners belong underground, not in the air. But she's determined to prove him wrong.

Co-directors Nicholas Bonner and Anja Daelemans join us for a ScreenTalk hosted by Calum MacLeod.

In association with House of Illustration’s exhibition (open 23 Feb to 13 May) – Made in North Korea: Everyday Graphics from the DPRK.

Cinema

Belgium, UK, North Korea 2012 Dirs Nicholas Bonner, Anja Daelemans, Gwang Hun Kim 81 min

Calum MacLeod is a former China correspondent for The Times newspaper, and was Beijing-based for over two decades. He regularly covered North Korea news and has visited both sides of the 38th parallel. Calum is the co-author of China Remembers and The Odyssey Illustrated Guide to Uzbekistan.

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