Eight Russian movie theaters refuse to show new film about North Korea

Eight movie theaters in Moscow have refused to show a new documentary on North Korea directed by Vitaly Mansky. The film, Under the Sun, follows its heroine, eight-year-old Zin-mi, as she joins the country's children’s pioneer group. In depicting the everyday life of a supposedly normal family in Pyongyang, it reveals the true extent of North Korean propaganda. The picture was scheduled to come out on October 27.

Mansky told Meduza that the eight movie theaters had refused to screen his film on the order of Moscow's Cultural Department head Alexander Kibovsky. As a result, only 20 cinemas in Russia will show the film.

"There is not mystery here. The reason for this failure is that the Russian government is responding to the demands of North Korean authorities. It is hard to imagine that someone else - Poland, Germany, America, or Japan - listening to the request of North Korean authorities ... The question arises: why is Russia [listening]," asked Mansky.

The Russian premiere of Under the Sun took place on September 25 at a film festival in Saint Petersburg. According to Mansky, he only learnt on that day that the premiere would not be canceled.

The screenplay to the film was written by the North Korean side. All of Mansky's footage was checked, but the camerman, Alexander Ivanov, shot with two memory cards and, thereby, managed to keep material that was cut out due to North Korea's censorship.