Dear 'Diary'
Kim pic proves hot ticket
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You may not find "Superman" or "Pirates of the Caribbean" in Pyongyang theaters, but the family drama "Diary of a Student Girl" -- said to be produced under the guidance of Kim Jong-il -- is at the center of a marketing blitz.
Pic, released Aug. 6, follows a student who clashes with her elders before reconciling and reaffirming her love for her country and its military-first policies. Featuring widely known actors and with all major North Korean news outlets reporting on the film daily, "Diary" is said to be drawing tens of thousands of viewers each day.
Kim is said to have advised the filmmakers on plot, cinematography and editing.
A self-proclaimed cinema buff, Kim served as culture minister in the early 1970s and penned the book "On the Art of Cinema" to inspire his filmmaking comrades. Although Kim once frequented film sets, "Diary" is the first pic to receive the Dear Leader's personal guidance since "Nation and Destiny" in the mid-1980s.
North Korea's tightly controlled film output consists mostly of docs, though on occasion the state will mobilize its resources behind a more ambitious production. The 2001 pic "Souls' Protest," based on the real-life sinking of a passenger ship filled with Korean refugees at the end of World War II, was dubbed the North Korean "Titanic."
Pyongyang residents will surely find it politically expedient to watch the regime's latest blockbuster, though it remains an open question what they really think about the film.
In the past, officially produced films were the only entertainment available. Recently, however, pirated copies of South Korea's more hedonistic films and TV dramas are said to have opened many eyes as to what's really going on in the outside world.
