Bend it Like Beckham was appreciated by male and female alike. The story covers sensitive topics such as homosexuality, interracial relationships, and religion.
In spring 2004, Koryo Tours spoke with Sean Hinton, Director of Ealing Studios, London, about finding a suitable British film for the Pyongyang International Film Festival to be held that September.
The festival had originated in 1987 as the rather awkwardly named ‘Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries’. And, as such, played mainly propaganda films.
We take a look at the Pyongyang International Film Festival and how one international film became unexpectedly famous.
Pyongyang International Film Festival (2002)
In 2002, the Pyongyang International Film Festival opened to international films.
Koryo Tours screened ‘The Game of Their Lives’, and Sean had sent the classic 1951 Ealing comedy ‘The Lavender Hill Mob’.
The screening of which, it is rumoured, influenced a local Pyongyang citizen to commit a bank robbery!
Bend it Like Beckham in Pyongyang
At the time, director Gurinder Chadha was at Ealing Studios in production with ‘Bride and Prejudice'. Through Sean, we received her blessing for ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ to be entered into the 2004 film festival.
There are 14 cinemas in Pyongyang. But only a select few show films at the festival.
The festival tickets are sold in booths in the city.
If a film is popular, it soon sells out. Which is exactly what happened with ‘Bend it Like Beckham’.
The film was a hit!
It screened at 3 cinemas for 4 days and reached an audience of 12,000.
An astonishing number in such a short time.
Bend it Like Beckham - What North Koreans Thought
Bend it Like Beckham was appreciated by males and females alike.
The story covers sensitive topics such as homosexuality, interracial relationships, and religion. However, for a North Korean audience, many of these thematic elements were perhaps overlooked.
The focus was the main relatable storyline - a view into the life of a young woman aspiring to live her dreams in balance with the expectations of her family.
We were present at one of the screenings and squeezed into the 2000-seat cinema of the Pyongyang International Cinema House.
The audience watched the film with the sound slightly lowered whilst two actors just out in front of the screen live dubbed the film in Korean.
Scenes in Bend it Like Beckham - Juche?
Towards the end of the film, there is a dialogue between the protagonist, Jess, and her football coach.
He tells her she needs to live her own life. She needs to decide if she should follow her parents’ wishes to quit football or if she should follow her dream and play.
Coach Joe: Your mum and dad didn’t look too pleased yesterday. Suppose you’ve come to tell me you’re off the team for good.
Jess: It’s not fair. I feel like I’m either going to let the team down or piss them off. And I don’t want to upset anyone.
Coach Joe: Why are they so frightened to let you play?
Jess: They want to protect me.
Coach Joe: From what?
Jess: This is taking me away from everything they know.
Coach Joe: Who’s life are you living Jess? If you try pleasing them forever, you’re gonna end up blaming ’em.
During this passage, there were murmurs in the crowd.
The last line had been reinterpreted roughly along the lines of the Juche Idea, follow your own way.
Self-reliance.
The First Western Film to be Broadcast in North Korea
In 2010, we worked with the British Embassy to get the rights for Bend it Like Beckham to be broadcast throughout the country.
This should mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the DPRK and the UK.
The application was accepted, and the film became the first Western movie to be broadcast in the country.
Anyone in North Korea with access to a television was given an insight into the vagaries of Western society.
We were in Pyongyang soon after the broadcast, and locals were happy to give their impressions.
What did the North Koreans think?
For them, it was a breath of fresh air to watch a film that was purely for entertainment. Without any political drudgery. And, of course, set in another country with all the differences and questions that must bring up.
Part of the attraction of the film was that women’s football was particularly popular in the DPRK.
Their national ladies' team outperforms the men’s team at every level.
There were changes made to the script for broadcast, a little censorship of content, but Korean friends told us the story after watching, and it fit with our impressions of the film.
The love interest, the parent issue, etc.
In some way, it might have been part of the inspiration for us to shoot our own girl power romantic comedy ‘Comrade Kim Goes Flying’ a few years later.
Girl power rules.
If you want to watch Comrade Kim Goes Flying, it is available on Vimeo.
Koryo Tours
Pyongyang International Film Festival
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Nicholas Bonner
Nick Bonner is the co-founder & CEO of Koryo Tours & Studio
Originally from the UK, Nick has been running tours to North Korea and other extraordinary destinations for over 30 years. Since his first trip to North Korea in 1993, he has pioneered tourism to North Korea and is a well-known face and name in international media and academic conferences. He also curates and runs unique tours to Koryo's worldwide destinations, including Uzbekistan, where he is fascinated by the Korean connection and the intriguing forbidden art gallery in the middle of the desert.
Nick is an expert in North Korean art and runs Koryo Studio, an art gallery specialising in North Korean art and film. He has co-produced three feature-length documentaries and the first foreign-North Korean-produced feature-length film, Comrade Kim Goes Flying.