On August 10, the first China-North Korea co-production film "Pyongyang Pact" was officially released in North Korea. This is the first time in more than 60 years that North Korea has cooperated with a foreign country to make a film, and it is also the first time that foreigners have been allowed to film its large-scale group gymnastics "Arirang" performance. Regarding the "mysterious country" of North Korea, the producer hopes to provide a perspective different from that of Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries, and shoot "a film that comprehensively displays the situation in North Korea today." Chinese investors invested approximately 10 million yuan in this project, while North Korea was responsible for the manpower and material resources in North Korea. When filmmakers from the two countries really came together to collaborate for the first time, they discovered that they were already "strange old friends." It took three years and many twists and turns to finally complete a film that satisfied both the foreign ministries and film bureaus of the two countries.
However, "Pyongyang Date" has performed poorly at the box office since it was released in China on August 3, and has been called North Korea's "national image film" by netizens. However, Chinese investment is still pouring into North Korea. A TV series has been finalized and new movies are also under negotiation.
Director Li, an "old friend" in the North Korean film industry
One of the planners of this "cross-border date" is Li Shuihe, who was the director of Shanxi Film Studio .
Six years ago, Li Shuihe went to North Korea for the first time to participate in the Pyongyang International Film Festival. Like many Chinese, after walking into that familiar yet unfamiliar country, he felt like time had gone back in time, as if he had traveled back to the 1980s and 1990s in China.
He was a man of the hour at that film festival. The movie "Warm Spring" brought by Director Li was a great success and won the Pyongyang International Film Festival Organizing Committee Award. "Warm Spring" was screened continuously during the conference, and the venues were full.
After returning to China, he specially made a copy of the movie and gave it to Kim Jong Il. Since then, Li Shuihe has sent the movies "Warm Love" and "Warm Autumn". However, "Warm Autumn", which tells the story of fighting corruption and promoting integrity, has not been publicly screened in North Korea, and is only shown among North Korean leading cadres at the county level and above.
The fate was thus forged. Li Shuihe gradually became North Korea's trustworthy "old friend". According to regulations, the North Korean Film Bureau cannot directly contact foreign countries and must report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the embassy. Therefore, every time they contact the China Film Bureau with an urgent matter, they will call Li Shuihe and ask him to convey it. "I have a lot of contact with North Korea, so my mobile phone number, fax number, and email address are all registered with North Korean officials, and they can find me at any time."
More exchanges, the idea of ??co-producing a movie with North Korea Gradually it took shape in Li Shuihe's mind. In his opinion, China's younger generation knows very little about North Korea. The information they receive about North Korea every day comes either from South Korea, Japan, or the United States. "Most of it is negative news." Li Shuihe believes that he can change this "one-sidedness" and provide another perspective on North Korea.
North Korea also does not understand China. For example, when the movie "Walking to School", which reflected the difficulty of studying in China and forced ziplines to cross the river, was screened in North Korea, North Koreans were full of surprise: "China is so rich, and this is what it is now? Look at these children, there is not even a road to go to school." If you can’t find it, then this country doesn’t care? We in North Korea are not like this.”
Two countries that are so geographically close have too many blind spots in their understanding of each other. Li Shuihe believed that a movie co-produced by China and North Korea would have selling points in both markets. At this time, he had turned into a private enterprise CEO and served as the general manager of Beijing Jiuzhou Zhongyuan Digital Cinema Line.
In 2009, Li Shuihe was invited to North Korea to watch the large-scale group gymnastics art performance "Arirang" for the first time. This form of performance began in 2002, initially to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung and the 60th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong-il. Since then, it has become an official fixed program of North Korea and is performed at Pyongyang's May Day Stadium every summer. Li Shuihe was "extremely shocked" by the uniform performance of 100,000 people in "Arirang". When the artificial background board read "To pay the greatest respect to the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and the older generation of Chinese leaders," Li Shuihe cried and stood up with the people around him to applaud warmly. "The North Korean people really have feelings for China," he said with emotion. That year also marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea. Li Shuihe formally proposed a co-production of a movie. North Korea quickly agreed.
In June of that year, Li Shuihe signed a preliminary agreement with the Korean Film Commission’s Foreign Film Cooperative. This is the first time in more than 60 years that North Korea has cooperated with a foreign country to make a movie.
How "foreigners" make movies in North Korea
What Li Shuihe didn't expect was that it took three years to make this movie. The first step in collaboration is to have a script that both parties agree on. The principle set by both parties is that the script must be created jointly, and then it must pass the review of the foreign ministries and film bureaus of the two countries.
North Korea hopes to film more stories about resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, believing that this is the historical foundation of China-North Korea friendship. But Li Shuihe disagreed, "If most of the stories are about the past, why go to North Korea to shoot? The focus should still be on today's North Korea." In the end, the two sides compromised and internalized the history of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea as the background of the story.
The theme of the story is not difficult to unify. "Like what we advocate, North Korea also advocates the need for human love and truth, goodness and beauty." Li Shuihe said. According to his understanding, North Korea shoots more than 40 film films every year (they have not yet applied digital film technology), most of which are realistic themes. For example, the film "Diary of a Female Student" shows how her father is through a girl's perspective. He worked selflessly, and even though his wife was seriously ill, this father remained the same. "This spirit of dedication and sacrifice for everyone is the same as ours in China."
In August 2011, Sirzati Yahefu, director of Xinjiang Tianshan Film Studio, took over After receiving a notice from the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, he parachuted into the crew and became the director of this Sino-North Korean co-production. It is said that one of the reasons why he was "hand-picked" is that he has a good temper and will not get angry or give up because of unsatisfactory cooperation. At this time, the script had been revised several times, and several screenwriters had also changed. However, the two sides have basically reached an agreement and have begun to create a story outline surrounding "Arirang". However, the screenwriters of the two countries have different opinions on the details of the story.
China originally hoped that bicycles would be used as props throughout, and that the North Korean heroine would go on a bike date, which would waste time. However, North Korea objected because North Korean women cannot ride bicycles. China also designed the heroine to miss the date because of traffic jams, and North Korea objected because North Korea never has traffic jams. China proposed that the heroine take a taxi, but North Korea still objected because North Koreans do not take taxis.
North Korea designed a Chinese living Lei Feng to dive into the North to save people, but China thought it was too cliché and deleted it. North Korea also designed to ask the people of the two countries to donate corneas to each other. China thought it was unreasonable and deleted it.
It took another two months of script preparation before the Chinese crew set off for North Korea. The finalized story is: Wang Xiaonan, a young Chinese dancer played by Liu Dong, goes to Pyongyang to find the soul of dance after an unexpected failure in performing a Korean folk dance. During the ten-day journey, she had a misunderstanding with North Korean dancer Kim Eun-soon. For this reason, Jin Yinshun arranged for her to watch folk dance at his home in the countryside, and then watched Arirang performed by 100,000 people, which finally made Wang Xiaonan understand the true meaning of Korean dance.
"China provides all the funds, but when it comes to North Korea, North Korea is responsible for all manpower and material resources. According to regulations, foreign vehicles can only go to the North Korean border and cannot enter North Korea. This time, an exception has been made. It can be seen that North Korea also attaches great importance to this." Li Shuihe said.
When the crews from the two countries came together, they discovered that each other's way of thinking was so different. When the North Korean actor said that General Kim suggested adding elements of China-North Korea friendship to Arirang's performance, Liu Dong put his hands in his pockets and said with a smile, "That's great." The translator quickly came up to remind her that when North Koreans talk about General Kim, they cannot put their hands in their pockets, they must take them out, otherwise it will be disrespectful.