Under the Sun

Vitaly Mansky / Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, North Korea, Latvia / 2015 / Czech Premiere / 106 min.

synopsis

Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in one of the famous Korean "Spartakiads". The ritualised explosions of colour and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal, like a typical life as seen "through the looking glass". The film portrays North Korea in probably the only possible way: as an unintentional situational tragicomedy. Precisely staged film scenes duplicate principles common for life in "the most beautiful country on the eastern side of the globe": virtually horrifying selfstaging of the residents’ own lives.

“Zin-mi, you have joined Children’s Union, what do you expect from your adult life?” “When joining the Children‘s Union,we enter to the adult life. And begin to think, what else shall you do for the Great Leader Kim Jong Un.” (From the film.)

biography

Vitaly Mansky was born in Lvov and studied film at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. He has made over 30 documentary films, and produced over 200 others. He systematically popularises documentary film in Russia and works closely with television stations. His film The Pipeline (2013) was presented at the 2013 Ji.hlava IDFF, where Mansky also led his own masterclass.

more about film

director:	Vitaly Mansky
producer:	Filip Remunda, Vít Klusák, Natalia Manska, Simone Baumann, Petr Kubica
script:	Vitaly Mansky
editing:	Andrey Paperniy
music:	Karlis Auzans
sound:	Anrijs Krenbergs